The constant technological development in the last decade has enabled people around the world to communicate more easily than ever before. Even though it was possible, experiments in the field of structural engineering were rarely performed remotely. The practice always involved the physical presence of most participants in the project. However, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, online meetings and remote access experienced a tremendous increase in use in every aspect of modern life. As a result, after 55 years of continuous operation at the Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Engineering Seismology in Skopje - IZIIS, the first remote access experimental testing was conducted. These activities were carried out in the framework of mutual collaboration and demand from the Cracow University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering (CUT FCE).
In addition, research has shown that for the human brain, pictorial information is easier to process than textual information, and virtual reality scenarios offer the possibility of contributing to the more efficient formation of a mental model due to their visual nature. Virtual and augmented reality also offer advantages as a means of complementing university engineering education. The high level of immersion allows the learning process to take place on real objects, under realistic proportions and conditions. The perceived reference to reality enhances the learning experience and facilitates the integration of visual information into the mental model through cognitive image processing.
The strategic partnership aims to develop a joint platform for digital/virtual laboratory experiments to support European civil engineering higher education. The main objective of the project was to make various laboratory experiments available that are not part of the standard education at each university but are conducted at specialized institutes. The strategic partnership builds upon recent results in digital research and teaching, such as projects DigiLab4U, AuCity 2, and 3reCapSL. The project partners bring together these results, apply them to partner-specific experiments, and then transfer the experimental results into a digital environment that is made accessible to the general public. The 3D RealityCapture ScanLab (3reCapSL) is particularly useful in closing the existing knowledge gaps in real-time capable ultra-high-resolution spatial recording of dynamic scenes. The high-resolution 3D models are ideal for creating digital worlds and supporting related creative innovations.
The developed datasets will expand educational opportunities for a broad group of structural engineering students at partner universities and abroad (national, European, and international levels with high dissemination potential). Virtual reality experiments simulate selected physical experiments that are not actually carried out during studies due to dangers or the effort involved, providing a three-dimensional, realistic, and accurate representation. This concept is demonstrated in the PARFORCE settings, which present real, physical experiments in a virtual environment with interactive capabilities.
The developed framework/concept will offer the opportunity for other national, European, and international institutions to create and share additional datasets in cooperation with the strategic partnership's partners or independently on the freely accessible platform.
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