Underwater Inspection of Submerged Elements in Masonry Bridges and Other Old Civil Structures Using Drones

In previous studies, drones have been used to carry out visual inspections of heritage elements. To complement the information obtained with common drones, a new underwater drone model is proposed for the specific case of old bridges. The aim is to verify the applicability of underwater drones for inspecting submerged elements of old heritage bridges, given the large number of bridge disasters and collapses linked to failures in their foundations. To this end, we carried out an underwater inspection of the visible submerged elements (submerged but not buried) of three old bridges crossing different rivers. The different locations and characteristics of these bridges allow us to draw some initial conclusions. The results of the operations carried out show that underwater drones are not only useful for this type of inspection, but also the work is much safer than with the means currently used (underwater divers). In addition, the use of drones makes it possible to study certain parameters that can anticipate subsequent foundation problems affecting the entire bridge, such as the settlement or rotation of piers or abutments. This is the main innovation and contribution of this research: the possibility of inspecting submerged elements of masonry constructions using unmanned vessels.