Viaduct and Bridge Structural Analysis and Inspection through an App for Immersive Remote Learning (original) (raw)
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Performance evaluation of bridges using virtual reality
2018
There are approximately over 2.5 million bridges throughout the world, built to withstand massive forces and last for decades or centuries but very unlikely to last forever. According to a recent survey, there are more than 64,000 bridges in the US that have been declared as structurally deficient. Moreover, recent bridge collapse incidents in Italy, South Africa, United States and India have resulted in unplanned bridge closures affecting the economy of a state, traffic congestion, negative impact on day to day activities and in some extreme cases led to loss of life due to complete structural collapse. Therefore, law making agencies are pushed into paying greater attention to structural rehabilitation. Performance evaluation of bridges includes visual inspection, destructive and non-destructive testing. It is been stated that “Regardless of the fact that many structure testing methods have so far been developed, visual inspection is likely to remain the most significant aid for br...
Structural Health Monitoring of a Foot Bridge in Virtual Reality Environment
Procedia structural integrity, 2022
Aging civil infrastructure systems require imminent attention before any failure mechanism becomes critical. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is employed to track inputs and/or responses of structural systems for decision support. Inspections and structural health monitoring require field visits, and subsequently expert assessment of critical elements at site, which may be both time-consuming and costly. Also, fieldwork including visits and inspections may pose danger, require personal protective equipment and structure closures during the fieldwork. To address some of these issues, a Virtual Reality (VR) collaborative application is developed to bring the structure and SHM data from the field to the office such that many experts from different places can simultaneously "virtually visit" the bridge structure for final assessment. In this work, we present a SHM system in a VR environment that includes the technical and visual information necessary for the engineers to make decisions for a footbridge on the campus of the University of Central Florida. In this VR application, for the visualization stage, UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) photogrammetry and LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) methods are used to capture the bridge. For the technical assessment stage, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Operational Modal Analysis (OMA) from vibration data as part of SHM are analyzed. To better visualize the dynamic response of the structure, the operational behavior from the FEA is reflected on the LiDAR point cloud model for immersive. The multiuser feature allowing teams to collaborate simultaneously is essential for decision-making activities. In conclusion, the proposed VR environment offers the potential to provide beneficial features with further automated and real-time improvements along with the SHM and FEA models.
Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering
The Italian road and rail networks are characterised by the widespread presence of artworks, such as bridges, tunnels and viaducts, built in different historical periods. Among these, masonry arch bridges are very common and still play a functional role since they are part of roads still in use. Historic masonry bridges have been modified over the centuries due to changing needs of transport, often through specific adjustments such as widening the carriageway or resurfacing pavement road with modern materials and, in some cases, reinforcing the structures. These historic structures, although adequate, respond to different stresses, mainly related to the increase in load compared to the time of their design and construction. For this reason, it is necessary to implement actions aimed at the maintenance and safety of these structures through constant monitoring of the state of health, not only with the sensors but also with visual inspections repeated over time. In order to facilitate the analysis operations and to link the different expertise involved in the multidisciplinary knowledge process, it is important to define operational procedures and tools that are able to manage the vast historical infrastructural heritage of our territory. A virtual system, integrating digital tools and online repositories, has been set up to promote visual inspection operations for assessing the current state of the artefacts and ensuring data management by making it accessible to professionals and stakeholders involved in the intervention planning for maintenance and conservation.
Development of a schema for the remote inspection of bridges
Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers – Bridge Engineering, 2022
Visual inspection remains key for assessing the condition of bridges and hence assisting with planning and maintenance activities. There have been many efforts to improve or supplement visual inspection processes using new sensing technologies and data capture methods to usher in an era of ‘smart bridges’ or ‘smart infrastructure’. One method to improve data capture is a ‘remote inspection’ where inspectors use digital photographs of a bridge to identify and grade structural defects to the standard of a ‘general inspection’. In this paper, survey data are presented to help formulate a preliminary assessment of the potential for engineers to implement this possible evolution of the visual inspection process. A potential schema for remote visual inspections is developed and presented as a conceptual web application. The focus on the development of the schema includes the need for ease of use by inspectors and integration of collected digital data into bridge management systems. The suggested platform is seen as a transitional method to aid in the long-term implementation of further automation of the inspection process. The system architecture is provided along with possible technologies that may support or enhance it, as well as a discussion of the potential barriers to implementation.
While thorough documentation has always been a crucial feature of life cycle monitoring and assessment, different forms of documentation have not always been well integrated. Thorough documentation can include 2D images, 3D models, architectural drawings, reports from past interventions, current monitoring data, among other elements. In life-cycle monitoring, it is important that all of these types of documentation are well integrated and organized. The work presented here reflects a methodology and digital workflow for organizing and integrating existing documentation and data about a structure into a virtual reality environment. Through presenting data about a structure in an intuitive, organized, and interactive way, a virtual environment will foster communication among different groups working on a project, and greatly help the engineers to quickly and comprehensively assess the condition of the structure. The virtual environment proposed here uses 360 degree spherical imaging (Ricoh Theta) and virtual environment software (Kolor Panotour Pro) to aid a user in virtually experiencing a structure accompanied by its associated data. This project was implemented on Streicker Bridge, a 350 foot pedestrian bridge, in Princeton, NJ, USA. Since construction began in 2009, this bridge has been monitored using fiber-optic strain sensors. This data is incorporated into the virtual environment to highlight the possibilities of this method for life-cycle management. The lessons learned will be recommendations for how virtual environments can be used to enhance current practices and visualization methods for long-term monitoring and assessment.
Implementation of Virtual Reality in Routine Bridge Inspection
Transportation Research Record, 2003
This paper reports on the innovative use of Quick Time Virtual Reality (QTVR) and panoramic creation utilities for recording the field observations and measurements made during a routine inspection of a bridge. A virtual reality approach provides the capability to document a bridge's physical condition using different media types at a significantly higher level of detail compared to a written bridge inspection report. The digitally recorded data can be stored on a compact disk for easy access prior to, during, and/or after an inspection. Development of a QTVR bridge record consists of four major steps: 1) selection of camera stations, 2) acquisition of digital images, 3) creation of cylindrical / cubic panoramas, and 4) rendering of QTVR file. Specific details related to these steps as applied in various bridge inspection projects are provided. The paper is concluded with a discussion of the potential impact of QTVR to bridge management where routine inspection data is a factor in making decisions regarding the future maintenance, rehabilitation, or replacement of a bridge.
Use of gaming technology to bring bridge inspection to the office
Structure and Infrastructure Engineering
This paper proposes a novel method for bridge inspection that essentially digitises bridges using Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) so that they can be later inspected in a virtual reality (VR) environment. The work uses conventional terrestrial LIDAR together with affordable VR hardware and freely available software development kits originally intended for authoring computer games. The resulting VR app is evaluated for a case study involving a typical masonry bridge, comparing the proposed technique with traditional inspection methods. The new approach promises to be highly effective in terms of interpretation of results, accessibility to critical areas and safety of inspectors. The work represents an important step towards the creation of digital twins of important assets in the built environment. Recent bridge collapse incidents have affected local economies, traffic congestion, and in some extreme cases led to a loss of life. The work is timely as law making agencies are paying greater attention to structural rehabilitation. This paper will be of particular interest to bridge engineers, construction professionals and law makers and could lead to future revisions of bridge inspection processes and standards.
Structural Monitoring and Analysis of Bridges for Emergency Response
Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series, 2013
The British Columbia Ministry of Transportation and the University of British Columbia have implemented a program to instrument key structures to provide confirmation of seismic capacity, assist in focusing retrofit efforts, perform structural health evaluations and provide rapid damage assessment of those structures following a seismic event. The instrumentation system installed at each structure will automatically process and upload data to a central server via the Internet. The alert systems and public-access web pages can display real time seismic data from the structures and from the BC Strong Motion Network to provide input for assessments by the Ministry of non-instrumented bridges. These systems may also provide other agencies, emergency responders and engineers with situational awareness.
The development of a digitally enhanced visual inspection framework for masonry bridges in the UK
Construction Innovation, 2022
Purpose The utilisation of emerging technologies for the inspection of bridges has remarkably increased. In particular, non-destructive testing (NDT) technologies are deemed a potential alternative for costly, labour-intensive, subjective and unsafe conventional bridge inspection regimes. This paper aims to develop a framework to overcome conventional inspection regimes' limitations by deploying multiple NDT technologies to carry out digital visual inspections of masonry railway bridges. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts an exploratory case study approach, and the empirical data is collected through exploratory workshops, interviews and document reviews. The framework is implemented and refined in five masonry bridges as part of the UK railway infrastructure. Four NDT technologies, namely, terrestrial laser scanner, infrared thermography, 360-degree imaging and unmanned aerial vehicles, are used in this study. Findings A digitally enhanced visual inspection framew...
Augmented reality for bridge condition assessment using advanced non-destructive techniques
Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, 2020
Over the past years, a remarkable number of bridges have been collapsed or failed worldwide, underlying the growing importance of condition assessment of bridge structures within the context of health monitoring of structures and their life cycles become important to prevent such events. If utilised correctly, advanced Non-Destructive Techniques (NDTs) have proved to be effective in detecting imperfections such as bridge deck delamination, crack formation, and rebar corrosion. This paper presents the benefits of using Augmented Reality (AR) technology, applied combined, with visual inspection, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), Laser Distance Sensors (LDS), Infrared Thermography (IRT), and Telescopic Camera (TC). Using this approach, a bridge was investigated for weaknesses such as cracks and rebar corrosion. The methodology implemented in this paper can enhance structural engineers and/or asset manager's decision making, related to applying advanced NDT to dynamically affected bridges.