Multi-Modal Remote Sensing System (MRSS) for Transportation Infrastructure Inspection and Monitoring: [Post Project Initiatives]

2010PDFTech ReportStructural health monitoringInspectionRemote sensingMultimodal transportationUnited StatesUnited States. Dept. of Transportation. Research and Innovative Technology AdministrationYu, TzuyangUniversity of Massachusetts at LowellSingh, CaesarUS Transportation CollectionManaging the growing population of deteriorated transportation infrastructure systems (i.e. highway bridges) and being able to accurately inspect them in a timely and cost effective manner is a major societal challenge within the U.S. today. Traditional nondestructive testing/inspection/evaluation (NDT/NDI/ NDE) methods for highway bridges cannot currently provide an accurate and rapid evaluation (independent of human biases and interpretation) on a routine basis to prevent deteriorated bridges from sudden collapse. Automated, low-cost, efficient bridge inspection techniques for interrogating critical bridge components are needed. Existing highway bridge inspection techniques are typically time consuming, labor intensive, and cost inefficient. Safety issue, interference with existing traffic, and subjective evaluation of visual inspection are additional disadvantages in such inspections. The objective of this project is to develop a multimodal remote sensing system (MRSS) that will be used as the next generation of rapid, distant, interrogation technology for bridge inspection. The proposed MRSS combines advantages of NDT (local inspection) and structural health monitoring (SHM) (global, continuous monitoring), using innovative continuous wave imaging radar (CWIR), digital image correlation (DIC), and fiber optic sensors (FOS) to deliver a cost-effective, robust solution for the inspection and monitoring of critical transportation infrastructure such as highway bridges. MRSS represents the next-generation of portable bridge inspection technology for efficient inspection, evaluation and rating of bridges.93