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Application of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Crack Measurement Using Image Calibration Supported by Laser Projectors

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Abstract

Traditional bridge inspection methods mostly rely on the experience and expertise of inspectors in visual detection of cracks. Such visual inspection methods are not only time consuming but also could be affected by subjective judgment of inspectors and lack a unified inspection standard. To overcome the shortcomings of visual inspection, this study investigates the feasibilities of using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) combined with laser projectors to measure surface cracks. All related parameters of the laser projectors that are fixed on the UAV are calibrated first in the laboratory. Then, the UAV with the laser projectors is used to capture images of surface cracks. The images from the UAV can be transformed to orthoimages using the laser projectors’ parameters and the image processing technology. Next, surface cracks in the orthoimages are automatically identified by a crack identification algorithm. Finally, the characteristics of surface cracks are evaluated by the image-based measurement technologies. To verify the accuracy of the proposed image-based measurement system (UAV with laser projectors), seven artificial cracks with different widths are measured using the proposed measurement system and the point cloud method (UAV with the global navigation satellite system) under different measurement distances. The test results demonstrate that while the distance between the UAV and the artificial crack is within 150 cm, the proposed image-based measurement system is able to measure crack widths more accurately than the GNSS point cloud method. In addition, the proposed image-based measurement system can automatically identify surface cracks and measure crack widths from UAV-captured images without manual measurements.

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Availability of data and material

The supplementary information is available by request to Prof. Chang-Wei Huang.

Code availability

The code of the proposed method is available by request to Prof. Chang-Wei Huang.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan [109-2221-E-033-001] and the Chung Yuan Christian University [109-CYCU-RG-12 and 110-CYCU-RG-07].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Center for Research On Earthquake Engineering, No. 200, Sec. 3, Xinhai Road, Taipei, 106219, Taiwan

    Kuang-Wu Chou

  2. Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Sanming University, Jing Dong Road, Sanming, 365004, Fujian, China

    Lian-Gui He

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, Chun Yuan Christian University, N0. 200Chung Pei Road, Taoyuan, 320214, Taiwan

    Lian-Gui He, Kevin Hsu & Chang-Wei Huang

  4. Department of Civil Engineering, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Road, Taipei, 10617, Taiwan

    Wen-Cheng Liao

Authors
  1. Kuang-Wu Chou
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  5. Chang-Wei Huang
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Contributions

KWC and CWH drafted the manuscript. LGH and KH performed experiments and analyzed related data. CWH and WCL supervised the research. All authors contributed to the discussion of the results and preparation of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Chang-Wei Huang.

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Chou, KW., He, LG., Hsu, K. et al. Application of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for Crack Measurement Using Image Calibration Supported by Laser Projectors. Multiscale Sci. Eng. 3, 225–235 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42493-021-00072-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42493-021-00072-7

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