Paul Fidler | Department of Engineering
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Department of Engineering

Mr Paul Fidler

praf1

Paul Fidler

Senior IT Engineer

Academic Division: Civil Engineering

Telephone: +44 1223 3 32816

Email: praf1@cam.ac.uk

Personal website

Research interests

Paul is a Computer Associate at the Whittle Laboratory.

Prior to joining the Whittle Laboratory, Paul was based in Civil Engineering and worked on research projects with both the Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction and the Center for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC). Paul's most recent research involves using Digital Twins for Structural Health Monitoring of infrastructure assets - continuing a prior CSIC project monitoring two railway bridges in Staffordshire that had been instrumented with distributed and FBG fibre-optic sensors.

Paul's previous research included investigating the use of wireless sensor networks for structural health monitoring, with deployments at the Humber Bridge, Hammersmith Flyover and in the Jubilee Line tunnel.

Other research includes vibration monitoring of tram rails using piezoelectric accelerometers mounted on tram axle boxes, ambient vibration monitoring of a bridge in Shipley for scour detection, and monitoring of a London Plane tree in Ely.

Prior to working in structural health monitoring, Paul's previous research activities included:

  • Computer programs for yield-line analysis of concrete slab and beam-and-slab bridges
  • Low-power single-board ARM based computers for use in teaching and research
  • A custom bootable Linux DVD for use in undergraduate teaching

Recent publications

  • Fidler, P.R.A., Cocking, S., Huseynov, F., Bravo Haro, M., Ubeda Luengo, P., Middleton, C.R., Schooling, J.M. (2025). Increasing the value of bridge SHM data by leveraging network-level open data. In: 13th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure SHMII-13. 1-5 September, 2025, Graz, Austria. (Lienhart, W., Krüger, M. eds.) pp. 1309-1317. doi:10.3217/978-3-99161-057-1-199.
  • Wang, S., Huseynov, F., Casero, M., OBrien, E.J., Fidler, P., McCrum, D.P. (2023) A novel bridge damage detection method based on the equivalent influence lines – Theoretical basis and field validation. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing 204 (2023) 110738. doi:10.1016/j.ymssp.2023.110738.
  • Fidler, P.R.A., Huseynov, F., Bravo-Haro, M., Vilde, V., Schooling, J.M., Middleton, C.R. (2022). Augmenting an existing railway bridge monitoring system with additional sensors to create a bridge weigh-in-motion system and digital twin. Presented at SHMII-11: 11th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure August 8-12, 2022, Montreal, QC, Canada. doi:10.17863/cam.86738 (Accepted version).
  • Huseynov, F., Fidler, P.R.A., Bravo-Haro, M., Vilde, V., Schooling, J.M., Middleton, C.R. (2022). Setting up a real-time train load monitoring system in the UK using Bridge Weigh-In Motion technology - A case study. Presented at SHMII-11: 11th International Conference on Structural Health Monitoring of Intelligent Infrastructure August 8-12, 2022, Montreal, QC, Canada. doi:10.17863/CAM.93865 (Accepted version).
  • Vardanega, P.J., Webb, G.T., Fidler, P.R.A., Huseynov, F., Kariyawasam, K.K.G.K.D. & Middleton, C.R. (2022). 32 - Bridge monitoring. In: Pipinato, A. (ed.) Innovative Bridge Design Handbook: Construction, Rehabilitation andMaintenance (Second Edition). Butterworth-Heinemann: Oxford, UK, pp. 893-932. [ISBN: 978-0-12-823550-8] doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-823550-8.00023-8 (published online 10 September 2021)
  • Acikgoz, S., Fidler, P.R.A., Pascariello, M,N., Kechavarzi, C., Bilotta, E., DeJong, M.J., Mair, R.J. (2021). A Fibre-optic Strain Measurement System to Monitor the Impact of Tunnelling on Nearby Heritage Masonry Buildings, International Journal of Architectural Heritage, doi:10.1080/15583058.2021.1884318.
  • Fidler, P.R.A., Vardanega, P.J., Hoult, N.A., Middleton, C.R. (2021). Long-term monitoring of the Humber Bridge Hessle anchorage chamber In: Bridge Maintenance, Safety, Management, Life-Cycle Sustainability and Innovations. Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Bridge Maintenance, Safety and Management (IABMAS 2020), June 28-July 2, 2020, Sapporo, Japan (held online April 11-18 2021), (Yokota, H., Frangopol, D.M. eds.) Taylor & Francis. London. ISBN: 9780429279119 doi:10.1201/9780429279119-242
  • Luna-Navarro, A., Fidler, P., Law, A., Torres, S., Overend, M. (2021). Building Impulse Toolkit (BIT): A novel IoT system for capturing the influence of façades on occupant perception and occupant-façade interaction. Building and Environment 193 (2021) 107656. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2021.107656.
  • Kariyawasam, K., Middleton, C., Talbot, J., Fidler, P., Haigh, S., Madabhushi, G. (2021). On the potential for using bridge natural frequencies to detect scour: an experimental study with a field sensor deployment and geotechnical centrifuge modelling In: IABSE Congress – Resilient technologies for sustainable infrastructure - Proceedings (Abu, A. ed.). September 2-4, 2020, Christchurch, New Zealand (held online February 3-5 2021). doi:10.2749/christchurch.2021.0293 [Local copy].
  • Kariyawasam, K.K.G.K.D., Fidler, P.R.A., Talbot, J.P., Middleton, C.R. (2019). Field Assessment of Ambient Vibration-Based Bridge Scour Detection. 12th International Workshop on SHM, Stanford, 10–12 Sep. 2019. doi:10.12783/shm2019/32137 [$].

All publications