Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.3
2.6
Journals
Infrastructures
Special Issues
The Future of Infrastructure Inspection
share announcement

The Future of Infrastructure Inspection

A special issue of Infrastructures (ISSN 2412-3811). This special issue belongs to the section "Infrastructures Inspection and Maintenance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2019) | Viewed by 10969

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Stephanie German Paal

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, 199 Spence St, 3136 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Interests: data-driven science; machine learning; machine vision; post-disaster assessment; natural hazards; structural engineering; reinforced concrete; structural resilience
Dr. David Lattanzi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Sid and Reva Dewberry Department of Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure Engineering, George Mason University, 4400 University Drive MS 6C1, Fairfax, VA 22030, USA
Interests: life-cycle data analytics; computer vision; digital twin; data fusion; 3D remote sensing; structural engineering

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The nation’s existing infrastructure is rapidly aging with insufficient maintenance and rebuilding efforts nationwide, in addition to a lack of forward-thinking and resilient new built-infrastructure that addresses our nation’s growing population and needs. Without a swift and effective response, our infrastructure will continue to deteriorate beyond safe, functional use. Moreover, both industry stakeholders and government entities continue to underinvest in advancements in the infrastructure sector that would mitigate these predictable effects. This goal of this Special Issue is to demonstrate a viable and convincing vision for the future of infrastructure sensing and inspection. The articles contained in this Special Issue should illustrate the value of the novel and innovative technologies and methodologies being advanced through research. The field of infrastructure inspection is evolving and expanding faster than ever before. New technologies such as robotics, augmented reality, and deep learning are revolutionizing the ways in which we can monitor and evaluate structural systems. However, with these advancements come new challenges and considerations for effective implementation.

This Special Issue will illuminate the true state-of-the-art, the most significant challenges for future advancement, and the state-of-the-future in the field of infrastructure inspection. The Special Issue is designed to inform the public about the emerging challenges and opportunities for advanced technologies and methodologies, as well as to delineate considerations for practical implementation. The articles will not be limited to any one civil engineering domain, class of infrastructure, or inspection paradigm. The Special Issue will communicate the emerging capabilities and challenges that will help define structural sensing and monitoring over the next decades.

The goal is to publish original research papers focused on current innovation and the future vision for infrastructure inspection.

Examples include but are not limited to innovations in the following areas:

  • Data collection, analysis, and management;
  • Long-term monitoring;
  • Post-disaster assessments;
  • Sensors;
  • Digital twin;
  • Infrastructure maintenance;
  • Infrastructure repair and retrofit strategies;
  • Robotic-assisted inspections;
  • Data-driven approaches;
  • Augmented or virtual reality applications;
  • Applications of additive or advanced manufacturing strategies.

Dr. Stephanie German Paal
Dr. David Lattanzi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Infrastructures is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • advanced infrastructure
  • disruptive technology
  • structural health monitoring
  • inspection
  • evaluation

Published Papers (2 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 2014 KiB  
Article
A Practitioner’s Guide to Small Unmanned Aerial Systems for Bridge Inspection
by Sattar Dorafshan, Robert J. Thomas, Calvin Coopmans and Marc Maguire
Infrastructures 2019, 4(4), 72; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4040072 - 19 Nov 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 4106
Abstract
Small unmanned aerial system(s) (sUAS) are rapidly emerging as a practical means of performing bridge inspections. Under the right condition, sUAS assisted inspections can be safer, faster, and less costly than manned inspections. Many Departments of Transportation in the United States are in [...] Read more.
Small unmanned aerial system(s) (sUAS) are rapidly emerging as a practical means of performing bridge inspections. Under the right condition, sUAS assisted inspections can be safer, faster, and less costly than manned inspections. Many Departments of Transportation in the United States are in the early stages of adopting this emerging technology. However, definitive guidelines for the selection of equipment for various types of bridge inspections or for the possible challenges during sUAS assisted inspections are absent. Given the large investments of time and capital associated with deploying a sUAS assisted bridge inspection program, a synthesis of authors experiences will be useful for technology transfer between academics and practitioners. In this paper, the authors list the challenges associated with sUAS assisted bridge inspection, discuss equipment and technology options suitable for mitigating these challenges, and present case studies for the application of sUAS to several specific bridge inspection scenarios. The authors provide information to sUAS designers and manufacturers who may be unaware of the specific challenges associated with sUAS assisted bridge inspection. As such, the information presented here may reveal the demands in the design of purpose-built sUAS inspection platforms. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Infrastructure Inspection)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

26 pages, 2328 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Uncertainty-Based Bridge Inspection Decision Framework with Application to Concrete Bridge Decks
by Rebecca A. Atadero, Gaofeng Jia, Abdelrahman Abdallah and Mehmet E. Ozbek
Infrastructures 2019, 4(3), 50; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/infrastructures4030050 - 08 Aug 2019
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 5931
Abstract
The limitations of the standard two-year interval for the visual inspection of bridges required by the U.S. National Bridge Inspection Standards have been well documented, and alternative approaches to bridge inspection planning have been presented in recent literature. This paper explores a different [...] Read more.
The limitations of the standard two-year interval for the visual inspection of bridges required by the U.S. National Bridge Inspection Standards have been well documented, and alternative approaches to bridge inspection planning have been presented in recent literature. This paper explores a different strategy for determining the interval between inspections and the type of inspection technique to use for bridges. The foundational premise of the proposed approach is that bridge inspections are conducted to increase knowledge about the bridge’s current condition, and therefore, are only required when uncertainty about the knowledge of the bridge condition is too high. An example case of a reinforced concrete bridge deck was used to demonstrate how this approach would work. The method utilized deterioration models for predicting corrosion and crack initiation time, considering the uncertainty in the models’ parameters. Bridge inspections were used to update the current condition information and model parameters through Bayesian updating. As this paper presents a new idea for inspection planning, not all of the data or models necessary to fully develop and validate the approach currently exist. Nonetheless, the method was applied to a simulated example which demonstrates how the timing and means of bridge inspection can be tailored to provide the required data about individual bridges needed for effective bridge management decision making. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Future of Infrastructure Inspection)
►▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-2
Back to TopTop