Bauwerksprüfung unterstützt durch neuartige Besichtigungstechniken - Erste Erfahrungen

Structural inspection supported by new inspection techniques - First results

The road infrastructure has reached the edge of its service capability by increased external impacts and increasing average age and maintenance measure will be implemented in future to a considerable extent. To carry out the maintenance measures in a technically and economically optimal may, it's necessary to be informed at an early stage as fully as possible about the current state of the structure. For this it's necessary to find and evaluate new innovative techniques to support bridge inspection in accordance with German Standard DIN 1076.
Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) provide a range of possibilities of photo recording and may thus be used as an auxiliary in bridge inspections. As part of this research project, flights were operated to three bridges and the use of UAS allowed identifying damage to the bridges in question. Given the possibility to operate flights to areas which are not easily accessible as well as time savings during testing offered by the use of UAS, this technology seems attractive for inspections of bridges. The targeted use of UAS will result in reduced service failures and an increase in the quality of results.