Necati Catbas doesn\u2019t hold a medical degree, but the Â鶹ӳ»´«Ã½ engineering professor is more than qualified to diagnose the health of bridges using a combination of emerging technologies.<\/p>\n
Catbas collaborated with his former civil engineering student Marwan Debees<\/strong> \u201923PhD<\/strong>, who now works as a NASA Bridge Program manager, on newly published research that details how infrared thermography, high-definition imaging and neural network analysis can combine to make concrete bridge inspections more efficient<\/a>.<\/p>\n Catbas and Debees are hopeful that their findings, recently published in the Transportation Research Record<\/em>,<\/em> can be leveraged by engineers through a combination of these methods to strategically pinpoint bridge conditions and better allocate repair costs.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we better understand which bridges need more repairs and which bridges may be postponed, then [funding agencies] can use limited funds more wisely, and then we can direct our efforts to the really critical bridges,\u201d Catbas says. \u201cWe have about 650,000 bridges in the U.S. and we have been working to examine how we can use novel technologies to understand the existing condition of structures.\u201d<\/p>\n Debees noted an instance during a NASA bridge load test where Catbas and his team assisted in evaluating the repairs. They determined that the repairs made were sufficient, ultimately, eliminating the next phrase of planned work.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re only spending the money where we need to instead of doing it without a comprehensive understanding of the actual conditions of the bridge in the field,\u201d Debees says. \u201cThe goal is to better understand the conditions of the bridge and have a better priority list of what bridges are really in need.\u201d<\/p>\n