Satellitengestütztes Bauwerksmonitoring – Verformungsmessungen an der Großbrücke Schottwien als Demonstrationsprojekt

Radar interferometry (Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar - InSAR) is a remote sensing method that records deformations of the earth's surface from space with centimetre to decimetre accuracy and is widely used in earth observation. A promising new field of application is the deformation measurement of bridges, which has hardly been explored to date due to insufficient accuracy. ESA research satellites record earth surface deformations in cycles of twelve or six days at a radar wavelength of 5.5 cm, which are evaluated by InSAR. This article presents results from projects investigating the use of satellite data for bridge monitoring. The method uses natural or artificial reflectors and optimizes accuracy through temperature compensation models and phase compensation algorithms. Measurements on the large Schottwien bridge showed a deviation of only 1.7 mm (standard deviation) compared to the reference system, a digital tube scale, and underline the potential of this methodology.