Non-Contact Scour Monitoring System for Railroad Bridges

Although researchers have developed instrumentation for scour detection around bridge piers, the current state-of-the-art practice relies upon visual inspection by divers. As a potential alternative to the traditional methods, this research explored the possibilities of using non-contact and remote sensing-based laser ranging technique for scour mapping and monitoring.

The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's Rail Safety IDEA 39: Non-Contact Scour Monitoring System for Railroad Bridges details methodologies that have the potential to make scour mapping feasible, quick, safe, and economical for railroad bridge owners. The high definition 3D riverbed topography derived from the proposed technique can be used to accurately map and monitor the development of the scouring process.