Human computer interactive damage inspection for structural management system

Abstract

Although new technology driven methods have been utilized to overcome the limitation of human based visual inspection, the human based visual inspection is the most widely used nowadays and there are still unresolved issues. Firstly, onsite inspectors have difficulty in finding the previously detected damage location and tracking their status at onsite. For example, an inspector still marks damage location on a target structure with chalks or on drawings, while comparing the current status of existing damages to their previous status as documented onsite. Secondly, current inspection reports are in paper-based documents, making it difficult to accurately determine the damage location and its chronological change. In this study, two approaches are proposed to improve the convenience of the onsite inspectors. First, a method to localize damage in BIM model in real time based on visual-inertial odometry using a few seconds of images and IMU measurements is developed. The developed method automates the full process from damage detection to integrating the damage with a BIM model without manual labor. Secondly, a mixed reality-based structural inspection system with onsite damage information marking is developed. The developed system detects structural damage, creates a holographic marker with damage information on the actual physical damage, and displays the marker onsite via an mixed reality headset. Since inspectors can view the marker with damage information in real-time on the display, they can easily identify where the previous damages have occurred and if the size of the damage is increasing. The performances of the two approaches were verified through a field test at a tunnel and a campus building.