Angelos Amditis – författare

This book contains an edited version of the lectures and selected contri- tions presented during the Advanced Summer Institute on “Product Engine- ing: Tools and Methods based on Virtual Reality” organized at Chania th th (Greece) in the period 30 May-6 June 2007. The Advanced Summer - stitute (ASI) was organized in the framework of the European FP6 funded project “VEGA – Virtual Reality in Product Design and Robotics” and was devoted to the Product Engineering field, with particular attention to the aspects related to the Virtual Reality (VR) technologies, its use and added value in engineering. The objective of the ASI was to create a meeting framework for leading scientists with PhD holders and advanced PhD students carrying out - search in the field of Virtual Reality Technologies, Haptic systems, CAD and VR integration, Virtual Testing and Prototyping and Virtual Manuf- turing. The aim was to create conditions for high level training through a series of 15 invited lectures presented by world reputed scientists, as well as to give possibilities for young researchers to present their achievements and to establish professional contacts. The ASI was seen also as an opp- tunity for academics, practitioners and consultants from Europe and el- where who are involved in the study, management, development and - plementation of product engineering principles in the learning and teaching sectors, as well as professionals to come together and share ideas on p- jects and examples of best practice.

Many EU cities are experiencing increasing problems with their water pipeline infrastructure. The cost of replacing these old, worn-out systems, if left to deteriorate beyond repair, is astronomical and clearly beyond the resources of many communities. Replacement, however, is not the only choice as many of these systems can be rehabilitated at 30 to 70 percent of the cost of replacement. Accordingly, resources are now increasingly being allocated to address pipeline rehabilitation management issues. Due to the emphasis on sustainable management, risk-based approaches for the rehabilitation management of the water supply network need to be developed. Rehabilitation decisions should be based, interalia, on inspection and evaluation of the pipeline conditions. Yet, utilities cannot locate a number of their old pipes and current inspection technologies typically do not provide the needed detailed information on pipeline damage. The objectives of this book are to describe the research work carried out in the framework of WATERPIPE project aiming: To develop a novel, high-resolution imaging ground penetrating radar for the detection of pipes, leaks and damages and the imaging of the damaged region and evaluate it at a test siteTo produce an integrated system that will contain the equipment in "1" and a Decision Support System (DSS) for the rehabilitation management of the underground water pipelines that will use input from the inspections to assess, probabilistically, the time-dependent leakage and structural reliability of the pipelines and a risk-based methodology for rehabilitation decisions that considers the overall risk, including financial, social and environmental criteriaTo field test the equipment and the DSS