The Use of Drones in Assessing the Technical Condition of Wells and Culverts

The presentation will focus on the potential use of drones for assessing the technical condition and monitoring selected elements of underground infrastructure, such as manholes and culverts. Solutions enabling safe operation in confined spaces and under conditions of limited visibility will be discussed. The speaker will also present the application of numerical techniques and artificial intelligence in image analysis and the interpretation of measurement results used to assess the technical condition and monitor structures.

Professor at the Warsaw University of Technology, a specialist in hydrotechnical engineering, water engineering, and environmental engineering. From 2014 to 2020, he served as Head of the Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Hydraulics, and from 2016 to 2023 — Director of the Center for Geo- and Hydrotechnical Analysis at the Institute of Applied Research of the Warsaw University of Technology (IBS PW), and during the 2020–2024 term, he served as Dean of the Faculty of Building Services, Hydrotechnics, and Environmental Engineering at the Warsaw University of Technology. He is a member of the Hydrotechnical Structures Section and the High-Rise Buildings Team of the Committee on Construction, Architecture, and Urban Planning (KILiW) of the Polish Academy of Sciences (PAN), as well as a member of Technical Committee 206 (Observational Method) of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (TC 206 Observational Method; International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering).
He specializes in the application of advanced numerical simulations in geotechnical, hydraulic, and environmental engineering, as well as in the assessment of the technical condition of structures (including underground infrastructure and hydraulic structures), using modern measurement methods such as laser scanning, thermal monitoring, fiber-optic measurements, etc. He is a specialist in the numerical modeling of water filtration in soil media, safety analyses of structures, and the effects of deep foundations on adjacent structures and groundwater in urban environments, including the determination of threshold values for ongoing monitoring (both during construction and during the structure’s operation). He is a pioneer in incorporating changes in groundwater conditions and phenomena occurring in the soil caused by water filtration (filtration-induced deformations: erosion, suffosion, and clogging) into calculations and numerical analyses concerning the safety of building structures. He is a co-organizer and implementer of Poland’s first measurements of the tightness of diaphragm walls using the thermomonitoring method, as well as the use of fiber-optic measurements for monitoring underground infrastructure—large-diameter collectors.