Since the 1970s, Korea has achieved exponential economic growth over a short period of time, with a huge amount of infrastructure built. However, 30 years on, this infrastructure is now deteriorating at a rapid pace due to extensive use and climatic factors, raising safety issues in recent years. The current task force faces limitations in monitoring and maintenance due to various reasons: Insufficient budget, increasing number of infrastructure facilities requiring maintenance, shortage of manpower, and a rapidly increasing number of aging infrastructure facilities. To overcome these limitations, a new approach is required that is different from the manual inspection methods under the existing rules and regulations. In this context, this study aimed to explore the efficiency of bridge inspection for cracks by an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) that could observe inaccessible areas, could be conveniently and easily controlled, and could offer high economic benefits. A case study of UAV-based crack detection for Wonjudaegyo Bridge, Korea was performed. The results show more effective detection of cracks in the structure than traditional methods.
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