The iCampus network is an innovative programme that Ineco has developed
Ineco and the Agustín de Betancourt Foundation (a technological partner of the School of Civil Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid) have signed an agreement to advance research into flood prediction in urban areas.
Sergio Vázquez Torrón, president of Ineco and José Miguel Atienza, managing trustee of the Foundation and director of the School of Civil Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, have signed this agreement within the framework of the iCampus network of engineering and public consultancy, which aims to promote collaborative university-business research.
The new study will be based on the use of stochastic methods (which incorporate additional variables into the analyses) to determine in a more reliable and robust way the probability of floods occurring, representing an advance over traditional methodologies based on a series of simplifications that do not represent the reality of flood generation processes. For this purpose, one or two real case studies located in urban areas sensitive to both pluvial and fluvial flooding will be analysed.
Resilient infrastructure
Floods are increasingly recurrent natural phenomena with more devastating effects. In addition, some human activities and climate change are contributing to the increased likelihood of their occurrence and negative impact. In Europe, in particular, records indicate that they are becoming more frequent, with more than twice as many flash floods being recorded in recent years alone, and with a higher average magnitude than in the late 1980s.
Ineco has an expert team in digital engineering and BIM, in transversal collaboration with specialities in data analysis, satellite image recognition and GIS modelling, as well as in the design and adaptation of infrastructures to climate change.
The company has promoted flood studies in recent years, with projects in the La Font de La Figuera tunnel, on the Madrid - Seville high-speed line between Yeles and Mora. Also, the study of the Tajo river as it passes through Toledo, flood prevention and adaptation of the river bed of the Adra river in Almeria,assistance for the hydrological-forestry restoration and reduction of flood risk in the wadis of the Cartagena mining area, as part of the actions for the recovery of the Cartagena mining sierra, as part of the actions for the recovery the Mar Menor recovery actions and the hydrological and hydraulic analysis for the Valencia and Alicante airports.
Madrid, Cantabria and Santiago: innovative collaborative projects.
The iCampus network is an innovative programme that Ineco has developed to promote scientific and technical research, knowledge transfer and interaction between experts from the scientific, technical and business communities.
Ineco already has agreements with other universities such as the University of Cantabria, for the characterisation of the resilience of materials applied to railway infrastructure, or the University of Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia, for the development of an Artificial Intelligence tool to optimise the design of linear transport works, mainly roads and railway lines. Within this framework, the company is collaborating with the Polytechnic University of Madrid through its School of Civil Engineering in the Master Digital Twins for Infrastructures and Cities, in which it mentors a digital twin use case to analyse the impact of major events on the mobility of large cities.
The iCampus network will soon be extended to other research centres to advance in strategic areas for mobility and digitalisation such as noise in ports, mobility analysis and diversity bias, or the influence of climate change on track superstructure.
