A new method for vibration-based damage detection in structural health monitoring using autonomous UAVs

Increasing awareness of economic and social impacts on civil infrastructure through deterioration mechanisms and extreme events, has led to the need for the development of advanced methods to monitor the health condition of structures. To ensure the operational safety of infrastructure, structural health monitoring (SHM) systems have been developed and widely used in bridges and buildings, to better understand the structural response and damage identification under dynamic loads. Vibration-based Damage Detection (VBDD) is a global non-destructive evaluation technique, which is used to detect sudden changes of the dynamic characteristics of a structure subjected to an excitation source. In this way, the presence of damage at an early stage can be detected and located, which provides insights into the health condition of a structure as to whether the damage is at a dangerous level. With the recent advances in sensor technology, many contact-based and non-contact methods have been developed for damage detection, localization and quantification. The traditional VBDD technique is the use of accelerometer contact sensors, which require significant time and cost for cable installation, data acquisition and inspection. Non-contact methods such as static cameras, have limitations due to equipment immobility or physical obstacles (i.e. lakes, rivers) which increase the field of view. This is particularly prominent when implemented in high-rise buildings and long span bridges.