John Leander

John Leander is a professor of structural engineering with a specialisation in bridges and their safety and endurance over time. Bridges have a critical role in the transport infrastructure, and high demands are put on safety and service for 100 years or more. Often, they also have symbolic and cultural values that are important for societies. The research involves methods for assessing bridges' physical condition and remaining service life, as well as planning maintenance actions. The overall aim is to maintain bridges in service for as long as possible under safe conditions.

The research is focused on degradation due to fatigue, which is the most common cause for limitations in service life. The work includes all parts, from the actual load effect to degradation models and safety formats for service life estimation. An important part is sensor-based data collection from actual bridges, providing information about bridges' behaviour under loading from trains and road vehicles. Advanced degradation models, based on e.g. fracture mechanics, are combined with sensor data in probabilistic safety assessments.

John conducts research and supervises doctoral students in national and European projects. The time at KTH is shared with teaching in courses on the basics of structural engineering, steel structures, and bridge engineering. Moreover, John is engaged in expert assignments on commission by the industry and bridge owners.

A list of publications can be found here: Publications

Supervised doctoral students

Liv Breivik, Machine learning for deterioration prediction based on digital information streams (Bridgitise).

Fatiha El Azrak, Wind induced vibrations of bridge components.

Marcel Hofstetter, Bridges in steel for high speed railways. Licentiate thesis

Bowen Meng, Internet of Things and AI for monitoring of bridges.

Juan Camilo Avendaño Castillo, Condition assessment of bridges based on image analysis and machine learning. Licentiate thesis

Roya Meydani, Condition assessment and decision support considering maintenance actions for infrastructure owners. Licentiate thesis

Ruoqi Wang, Risk- and reliability-based assessment of existing steel bridges. Doctoral thesis

Oskar Skoglund, Innovative structural details for improved production efficiency in the construction of steel bridges. Doctoral thesis