Civil engineers could monitor aging bridges — and make timely repairs — by using satellites that can detect cracks as thin as a credit card.
A scientist with the University of Houston was part of an international team that studied if long-span bridges around the world, including three in Texas, could be monitored from space.
“Bridges are more than just concrete and steel,” said Pietro Milillo, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UH. “They connect communities. They connect economies and people’s daily lives. We know that many of these structures are getting older, and we can’t afford to wait until problems appear.”…