|
|||||
|
|
Small-Format Aerial Photography for Highway-Bridge Monitoring |
|
| Authors: | Shen-En Chen Corey Rice Chuck Boyle Edd Hauser |
| Affiliation: | 1Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223 (corresponding author). E-mail: schen12@uncc.edu 2Graduate Assistant, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223. 3Managing Principal, Boyle Consulting Engineers, LLC, Charlotte, NC 28223. 4Professor and Director, Center for Transportation Policy Studies, Univ. of North Carolina at Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd., Charlotte, NC 28223. |
| Abstract: | Small-format aerial photography (SFAP) is a low-cost solution for bridge-surface imaging and is proposed as a remote bridge-inspection technique to supplement current bridge visual inspection. Providing top-down views, photos taken from airplanes flying at 305?m (1,000?ft) allow for the visualization of subinch (i.e., large) cracks and joint openings on bridge decks or highway pavements. An onboard global positioning system can help geo-reference images collected and allow automated damage detection. However, the site lighting, surrounding tree shades, and highway surface reflectivity may affect the quality of the images. Several examples of bridge evaluation using SFAP are presented to demonstrate the capability of remote sensing as an effective tool for bridge-construction monitoring and condition assessment. A deck condition rating technique for large crack detection is proposed to quantify the condition of the existing bridge decks. |
| Keywords: | Remote sensing Bridges, highway Monitoring Aerial photography |