Underwater inspection of submerged elements in masonry bridges and other old civil structures using drones

In previous studies, drones have been used to carry out visual inspections of heritage elements. To complement the information obtained with common drones, a new underwater drone model is proposed for the specific case of old bridges. The aim is to verify the applicability of underwater drones for i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Rodríguez Elizalde, Rubén
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC)
Repositorio:O2, repositorio institucional de la UOC
OAI Identifier:oai:openaccess.uoc.edu:10609/151698
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10609/151698
https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14092788
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:masonry bridge
old bridge conservation
heritage preservation
underwater inspection
drones
Descripción
Sumario:In previous studies, drones have been used to carry out visual inspections of heritage elements. To complement the information obtained with common drones, a new underwater drone model is proposed for the specific case of old bridges. The aim is to verify the applicability of underwater drones for inspecting submerged elements of old heritage bridges, given the large number of bridge disasters and collapses linked to failures in their foundations. To this end, we carried out an underwater inspection of the visible submerged elements (submerged but not buried) of three old bridges crossing different rivers. The different locations and characteristics of these bridges allow us to draw some initial conclusions. The results of the operations carried out show that underwater drones are not only useful for this type of inspection, but also the work is much safer than with the means currently used (underwater divers). In addition, the use of drones makes it possible to study certain parameters that can anticipate subsequent foundation problems affecting the entire bridge, such as the settlement or rotation of piers or abutments. This is the main innovation and contribution of this research: the possibility of inspecting submerged elements of masonry constructions using unmanned vessels.