Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
  • Publication
    Framework for Bridge Inspection with Laser Scanning
    For the last two decades, a significant amount research has been developed for collecting data for bridge inspection. Yet, visual investigation with an on-site inspector remains the predominant method; however is the highly subjective and time consuming. Alternatively, terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) can acquire surface details of structures quickly and accurately and is, thus, an emerging means to overcome the shortcomings of direct visual inspection. This paper presents a framework of bridge inspection using TLS data, where a strategy of processing TLS data for deformation measurement, damage detection, and reconstruction of three dimension (3D) as-built models are explored. Demonstration of the application in bridge inspection is also provided.
      895
  • Publication
    Application of Terrestrial Laser Scanner in Bridge Inspection: Review and an Opportunity
    (International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE), 2014-09-05) ;
    Heavy traffic and aggressive environmental conditions can cause unexpected bridge deterioration. Traditional condition evaluation is expensive. An alternative is Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) which is a non-contact approach that safe, fast, and applicable to a range of weather conditions. This paper reviews applications of TLS on bridge measurement involving geometric documentation, surface defect determination, and corrosion evaluation, and crack identification. Currently, most post-processing of TLS is manual or within third party software. This paper discusses potential approaches to automatic post-processing.
      1012
  • Publication
    Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Dynamic Bridge Deflection Measurement
    Heavy vehicular traffic and aggressive environmental conditions can cause unexpected bridge deterioration, thus requiring periodic inspections to identify and assess possible defects. One indicator is the amount of vertical deflection that occurs during loading. Monitoring vertical bridge deflection through traditional surveying typically requires multiple instruments and extensive time in the field, along with their affiliated costs. A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) can generate a million data points per second with millimeter level accuracy, thus offering the possibility of changing how vertical deflections of bridge girders are checked. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into using TLS to collecting vertical bridge displacements during dynamic loading. In this work, a point-surface based method is proposed to calculate the difference in elevation of a bridge girder at unloaded and loaded conditions. The technique is applied to the Loughbrickland Bridge in Northern Ireland.
      418
  • Publication
    Automated Bridge Deck Evaluation through UAV Derived Point Cloud
    Imagery-based, three-dimensional (3D) reconstructions from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) hold the potential to provide a safer, more economical, and less disruptive approach for bridge inspection. This paper describes a methodology using a low-cost UAV to generate an imagery-based, dense point cloud for bridge deck inspection. Structure from motion (SfM) is employed to create a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud. Outlier data are removed through a density-based filtering method. Next, the unsupervised learning algorithm k-means and an object-based region growing algorithm are compared for accuracy with respect to bridge deck extraction. Last, an automatic pavement evaluation method is proposed to estimate the deck’s pavement condition. The procedure is demonstrated through an actual case study, in which a 3D point cloud of 16 million valid points was generated from 212 images. With that data set, the region growing method successfully extracted the deck area with an F-score close to 95%, while the unsupervised learning approach only achieved 76%. In the last, to evaluate the surface condition of the extracted pavement, a polynomial surface fitting method was designed to evaluate and visualise the damages.
      200