The INSPIRE University Transportation Center (https://inspire-utc.mst.edu) at Missouri University of Science and Technology was awarded in December of 2016 by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The center is focused on the development of advanced technologies to aid in bridge inspection and maintenance. Specifically, structural crawlers and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will provide a mobile platform for in-depth inspection of elevated bridges. Microwave and hyperspectral images will be developed to qualitatively or quantitatively assess concrete delamination and steel corrosion of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges. Together with other existing technologies such as ground penetrating radar, impact-echo, and infrared images, they will provide a suite of measurement tools and methods for the nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of structural damage and deterioration conditions in RC and steel bridges. Innovative sensors such as UAV-based smart rocks for scour monitoring, integrated point and distributed optical fiber systems for strain and corrosion monitoring, and coupled antenna systems for strain and crack monitoring will provide critical data such as the maximum scour depth, corrosion-induced steel mass loss, and live load induced strains in order to normalize the NDE data taken over time at spatially distributed points.

The goals of this pooled-fund initiative are to engage closely with several state departments of transportation (DOTs) in the early stage of technology development at the INSPIRE University Transportation Center, and leverage the center resources to develop case studies, protocols, and guidelines that can be adopted by state DOTs for bridge inspection without adversely impacting traffic. The initiative involves the integration, field demonstration and documentation of a robotic system of structural crawlers, UAVs, NDE devices, sensors, and data analytics. Depending on the interest of participating DOTs, the objectives of this initiative include, but are not limited to: • Development of inspection protocols for various types of bridges with the robotic system integrated into current practice. • Comparison and correlation of bridge deck inspections from above and underneath decks to understand the reliability of traffic disruption-free bridge inspection from underneath. • Design and technical guidelines of measurement devices on a robotic platform for the detection of surface and internal damage/deterioration in structural members, and for the change in lateral support of foundations. • Data fusion and analytics of measurements taken from various imaging and sensing systems for consistency and reliability.

To achieve the above objectives, the following tasks are proposed: 1. Develop a selection protocol for dividing bridges into groups that can be assessed manually with visual inspection, automatically with NDE devices or their combination. 2. Develop preliminary guidelines to test NDE devices, such as microwave camera and impact echo, on a robotic platform for the field inspection of bridges underneath decks. Normalize/calibrate the NDE test results with those of a few pre-installed sensors, such as point and distributed fiber optic sensors, for structural behavior assessment. Due to the gravity effect, most deteriorations (concrete cracking, deterioration, and steel corrosion) occur on the bottom side of bridge decks and are thus easier to detect from underneath the decks. The detection results derived from inspections above and below the decks are compared to understand their accuracy. 3. Develop an inventory of geographically-distributed test bridges and conduct case studies to implement and demonstrate NDE devices, such as microwave and infrared cameras as well as impact echo, for the detection of surface and internal damage and deterioration in structural members, and UAV-based smart rocks with embedded magnets for the scour monitoring of bridges. Up to nine (9) highway bridges/year in three (3) age groups or one long-span bridge/year from each participating state will be tested starting from the 2nd year. 4. Evaluate and refine as needed the protocols and guidelines of field tests for disruption-free bridge inspections after three (3) years of field operation. Imaging and sensing data are fused together to improve the detectability of problem areas with reduced capacity. The test results are evaluated based on the probability of detection for structural damage and deterioration. 5. Conduct a beta version rollout of the protocols, guidelines, and performance criteria at the INSPIRE University Transportation Center and the Missouri Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP) in 4th and 5th years. 6. Conduct workforce development workshops with the developed protocols, guidelines, and field demonstration technologies in 4th and 5th years. Upon request, in-house workshops are held at participating states once a year. 7. Prepare and publish a final report on the protocols, guidelines, and performance criteria of field tests with robotic systems. 8. Store and maintain curated data in six months of their collection at the Scholars’ Mine of Missouri University of Science and Technology. Share the data with the INSPIRE University Transportation Center investigators and, upon approval of state DOTs, the general public as appropriate.

The anticipated commitment from each state interested in participating is $25k/year/state.