Practical research on the use of UAVs and selfie sticks in post-earthquake inspections of road bridges

Abstract

In the inspection of road bridges after a major earthquake, it is often difficult to deploy bridge inspection vehicles or to set up scaffolding due to lack of materials and equipment, and inspection of bearings is often forced under such conditions. Therefore, a practical study was conducted with the use of UAVs and selfie sticks as inspection methods in the absence of scaffolding, with the aim of reliably capturing deformations using cameras attached to these vehicles. As a result, the following findings were obtained: (1) hands-on inspection was sufficient for small single-diameter bridges with easy access, (2) the selfie stick was effective for many slab and girder bridges, and (3) UAVs were effective for superstructures with high girder heights.