The data tell you everything about the behaviour of concrete!

Céline Rousselot, project manager research data management and opening, at Gustave Eiffel University

How special concrete structures age. The partners of the national CEOS.fr project publish, in open data, their datasets on the cracking and durability of concretes.

In 2018, France reaffirmed its commitment to the opening up of research data by implementing a national plan for open science. As an institution, the university Gustave Eiffel supports its researchers’ sharing of the data generated during research by helping them to adhere to good practices. In this connection, the researchers and partners involved in the CEOS.fr national project are publishing open datasets on cracking in special reinforced concrete structures.

The national CEOS.fr and MEFISTO projects have provided an opportunity to study the behaviour, durability and cracking of the concretes used in the construction of special structures.  These structures are referred to as special either because of their exceptional dimensions or because they must meet certain service or protection requirements (service life, air- or water-tightness, industrial or environmental risks, etc.). Examples include nuclear installations, dams and bridges, but some structures that are open to the public, such as railway stations, can also be subject to such requirements.

Monitoring cracking, particularly at early age, is of major importance as it is crucial to the durability of the structure. In order to observe the development of cracks, experiments are carried out on different types of concrete.  To this end, a large number of sensors are deployed to measure the temperature and displacements of the materials.  This makes it possible to establish the strain at any point in the structure. The data generated then facilitates in-depth analysis of the concrete's behaviour.

As a supplement to the scientific articles that describe the research that has been done, the sharing of data allows other researchers to validate the results obtained or to reuse them for future research. The publication of these data has therefore created considerable anticipation in the scientific community. 

For the CEOS.fr, project team, opening up these data is a means of adding value to and capitalising on research while inviting contributions from other members of the scientific community in order to advance knowledge. This initiative also aims to preserve these data, which, in the case of large test specimens, are unique in terms of their quantity and diversity.

In order to make the data identifiable and easy to find, accessible, interoperable and reusable, the data had to be prepared before it was published.

• To ensure access to the data, files in a proprietary format (Excel) were converted to an openness format (CSV) while ensuring that no data were lost.
• To make sure they could be reused, the raw data were cleansed and corrected and work was carried out to document the data and the experimental method.
• Independently of this documentation, and to facilitate interoperability, the data were accompanied by a set of metadata with a structure that complies with an international standard.

Once they have been prepared for openness, the data are placed in the university repository in which they are given a permanent identifier so they are easy to find and cite. Finally, a re-use license tells those using the data about the conditions of re-use.

Interoperability: the ability of different computer systems to dialogue with each other, exchange data, communicate unambiguously and thus interpret information correctly.

Metadata: A structured dataset that describes, explains, and locates a data resource in order to facilitate its search, use, and management¹.

Open data: Data that an organization makes available to all in the form of digital files for reuse.