{"id":1065,"date":"2021-09-14T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T10:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/?p=1065"},"modified":"2021-09-14T12:02:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-14T11:02:22","slug":"finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology\/","title":{"rendered":"Finding the cracks with new drone technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture credit: Ian Baldwin on Unsplash<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Day-to-day when I\u2019m working on site, there are sometimes risks but nothing like the ones that structural engineers might face when reviewing a building that\u2019s taken the full impact of a hurricane or flood.<\/p>\n

Inspecting infrastructure and buildings after a catastrophic event is a vital part of keeping people safe. But there isn\u2019t generally a team of structural engineers on standby, ready to swoop in and decide whether a critical bridge should remain open.<\/p>\n

This is where artificial intelligence comes into its own. Associate Professor Mostafa Tazarv from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Dakota State University explains, \u201cTrained inspectors need to decide whether to keep a bridge open, to restrict traffic to first responders only, or to close it \u2013 and this must happen within a short time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Tazarv researches the structural behaviour of buildings and bridges during catastrophic events, including earthquakes. On top of this, he leads the Sustainable and Resilient Civil Infrastructure (SARCI) research group.<\/p>\n

The artificial intelligence software he\u2019s developing alongside SARCI member, assistant professor Kwanghee Won from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, will scan for and pinpoint cracks and damage to supporting columns and other structural elements.<\/p>\n

This AI software will potentially transform post-disaster inspections \u2013 saving time and money and possibly saving lives too.<\/p>\n

The software takes a visual scan of infrastructure so that someone without structural expertise can conduct the survey, before sending the images to engineers and other specialists to help determine whether the structure is safe.<\/p>\n

The software could be integrated into a mobile app or loaded onto a drone or fleet of drones to speed up inspections and locate cracks and other signs of weakness.<\/p>\n

Right now, it\u2019s early days, and the focus is on developing the software\u2019s ability to scan and assess bridge columns before moving onto other bridge components and eventually other structures.<\/p>\n

My thoughts are that while this sounds innovative, it may be pretty challenging to implement, especially if there is debris and also blockages to contend with. For example, getting access to a bridge when other buildings may have collapsed could be a problem.<\/p>\n

It might be that small, snake-like robots are a practical way to access critical points in a building or infrastructure to assess the damage. Following the lead of search and rescue teams could be one approach that helps speed up the development of this technology.<\/p>\n

Using untrained people to conduct surveys may not be entirely practical. For drones, people will need to be trained to fly them in a specific pattern to pick up the visuals an engineer needs to make their assessment. And all of this only generally applies to structures that are built to withstand earthquakes and tremors. Structures that haven\u2019t been designed with earthquakes in mind are likely to be mangled wrecks!<\/p>\n

Luckily, earthquakes are not something we generally have to contend with in the UK, although flooding is becoming more common. This technology may well be useful to us in certain situations, so I\u2019ll be keeping an eye on this area of research.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, if you need assistance with the structural elements of an upcoming project, please do get in touch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picture credit: Ian Baldwin on Unsplash Day-to-day when I\u2019m working on site, there are sometimes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,22],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFinding the cracks with new drone technology - Super Structures Associates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Finding the cracks with new drone technology - Super Structures Associates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Picture credit: Ian Baldwin on Unsplash Day-to-day when I\u2019m working on site, there are sometimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Super Structures Associates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-14T10:00:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-14T11:02:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Computer-Tech-Inspection-14.09.21-Ian-Baldwin-on-Unsplash.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/superstructuresassociates.co.uk\/finding-the-cracks-with-new-drone-technology\/\",\"name\":\"Finding the cracks with new drone technology - 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