UAV Survey of Bridges and Viaduct: Workflow and Application

Abstract

In this paper a workflow for bridges and viaducts aerial survey through Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is presented. Actual methodologies for bridge inspection and survey are described focusing on the use of UAV and 3d photogrammetry as a game changer to speed-up the process for the extraction of relevant data. In this context, a workflow for the complete survey of bridges, from data gathering, elaboration, presentation of results and automatic extraction of geometrical data is presented. The presented workflow was applied to a highway viaduct “Annunziata” located in a seismic risk zone in the city of Reggio Calabria. The application of this workflow allows a complete 3d reconstruction of the viaduct, with the extraction of the structure’s geometry for future analysis and remote inspection using a web-based platform.