SGER: Hurricane Katrina- Documenting Damage to Multi-Story Commercial Structures along the Gulf Coast using Rotary-Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

ABSTRACT This project uses miniature helicopters to photo-document damage in multi-story commercial structures along the Mississippi Gulf Coast from viewpoints that have never before been possible. Highly stable, battery-powered miniature helicopters were used in the first days of the Hurricane Katrina response by the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) to closely survey damage. These miniature helicopters have been outfitted with improved optics to better capture details of structural distress. The helicopters can enter or survey structures that may not be possible for engineers to reach due to the damage itself or lack of access (e.g., sitting in water or surrounded by debris), where entry may pose a significant risk to engineers, and supply viewpoints from interesting points of structural failure (e.g., close up of roofs from the outside, views from the side on the water). The Mississippi Gulf Coast has comparably few multi-story structures and CRASAR has extensive field experience so a rapid documentation effort is expected to be completed before important details are obscured by additional weather. All data are available to structural engineers, emergency response planners, and the general scientific community. The project has a secondary mission: refining the payloads and procedures needed to foster the adoption and effective use of helicopters by the larger engineering community. In addition to the fundamental science contributions, the project is expected to have significant broader impacts spanning the emergency response, civil and mechanical, insurance, and robotics communities.