Use of drones for a non-contact thermal monitoring system for bridges
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26507/paper.4682Keywords:
thermal monitoring, drone, thermal camerasAbstract
The critical role of bridges in the economic development of countries has led to the implementation of structural monitoring systems on these structures. Most of the monitoring systems have focused on measuring structural responses associated with vehicular or seismic loads, omitting thermal response. The latter has caused damage and collapse in bridges and has gained relevance due to the climate change effects that could occur. Consequently, this study experimentally explored the applicability of drones in developing a non-contact thermal monitoring system for bridges. For this purpose, a 1:1 scale model of a reinforced concrete I-girder with a length of 1.2 meters was built. The girder was exposed for 120 days to weather conditions in the city of Bucaramanga. Surface temperature measurements on the lateral face of the girder were recorded using a thermal camera integrated into a drone (DJI Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced) and another portable camera mounted on a tripod (FLIR E6 XT). Measurements were taken every 30 minutes between 6:30 AM and 4:00 PM, obtaining 20 photographs daily from each instrument. The thermal images were post-processed to construct surface temperature profiles using the temperature measured at 10 points on the beam. The comparison of temperatures obtained by both cameras showed differences between 2°C and 5°C in approximately 80% of the data and between 1°C and 5°C in 93% of the measurements. These differences do not imply a substantial change in the structural response of the bridges. Therefore, considering the versatility offered by the drone, especially for monitoring bridges with difficult inspection accessibility, the drone measurements were integrated into the contact monitoring system as predictor measurements of internal temperatures along with meteorological data collected with a weather station.
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