Fatigue Crack Inspection Using Computer Vision and Augmented Reality

Fatigue cracks developed under repetitive traffic loads are a major threat to maintaining the structural integrity of steel bridges. It is believed that 50 percent to 90 percent of all mechanical failures in metallic structures are fatigue related.

The TRB IDEA (Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis) Program's NCHRP IDEA Final Report for Project 223: Fatigue Crack Inspection Using Computer Vision and Augmented Reality proposes a new concept that integrates computer-vision-based motion tracking and augmented reality techniques to empower bridge inspectors to perform robust fatigue crack detection, characterization, tracking, and documentation in the field.