Sean Yeung (UW) and Jake Dafni deployed to coastal Oregon along highway 101 bringing with them the Phoenix Lidar miniRanger drone system. Collecting data for ODOT, the intent was to characterize the rate and behavior of movements for two highly-active, coastal landslides that are subject to bluff erosion.
Compression cracks seen above highway 101 along Oregon coast.
Jake Dafni, PhD, flying RAPID’S Phoenix Lidar miniRanger drone system.
Joining Erica Fischer’s (OSU) research team, RAPID deployed technical staff and equipment to Paradise, CA in late March to survey hospitals and schools that had been affected by the Camp Wildfire, which occurred in late 2018 and destroyed an estimated 18,800 buildings. The objective was to collect data on wildfire performance of engineered buildings, and on any effective mitigation that was performed prior to the wildfire.
The Research Team surveying a burnt portion of an Elementary School (a wooden structure). Embers entered the kitchen through the vent in the roof to start the fire.
Aerial images captured by RAPID’s Matrice 210 drone.
Michael Grilliot (left), RAPID’s Site Operations Engineer, and Sean Yeung collecting aerial images of areas affected by wildfire.
RAPID’s BLK360 Scanners surveying how a steel structure - previously a Charter School - fared after the entire building burnt.
Maria Koliou, PhD, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at Texas A&M University, employed RAPID’s technicians and equipment to support her NSF-funded Earthquake Research Project at E-Defense in Kobe, Japan.
RAPID’s Jake Dafni standing on the balcony of a 3-story wooden building constructed atop E-Defense’s shake table, the largest in the world. The buildings were designed to emulate actual houses and building codes currently common in Japan.
Damage to building can be seen after shake table simulates seismic excitation similar to earthquakes that have occurred in Japan in recent years.
The wooden buildings were scanned before and after seismic excitation. Pictured here: Jake Dafni (right) and Mohammed Aghababaei, PhD Student, Texas A&M University, working with RAPID’s Maptek I-site LR3 scanner.
Maptek I-site LR3 Scanner
Alex Grant, Research Civil Engineer of the USGS, utilized RAPID’s Canon DSLR camera to inspect surface cracks and lateral spreading cracks near Anchorage, AK following the earthquake on Dec. 9th.
Slumping and lateral spreading failures near the Matanuska River in front of the Chugach Range, AK.
Extensive surface cracks due to liquefaction along the Matanuska River, AK.
RAPID shipped Grant one of its two Canon 7D Mark II DSLR cameras just days following the Anchorage earthquake.
Adrian Bender (USGS) inspecting lateral spreading cracks along the Matanuska River, AK.
RAPID’s Operations Manager, Jake Dafni, PhD, traveled to Oregon during the first week of December to collect data for mitigation efforts of the Spangler landslide located near Molino, OR. This is a collaborative project headed by Professor Mike Olsen’s team at OSU’s College of Engineering, as well as Oregon Department of Transportation. Dafni was greatly supported during this field mission by Chase Simpson, Civil Engineering Master’s student at OSU with a specialty in Geomatics.
Jake and Chase readying the Phoenix miniRanger drone lidar system.
Phoenix miniRanger drone lidar system set and ready to fly!
Director of RAPID, Joe Wartman, traveled to Indonesia as part of an NSF/GEER-funded post-earthquake reconnaissance project. The team spent time in Palu, Sulawesi with the aim of mapping and characterizing large ground failures using RAPID equipment such as, UAV’s and a Leica GNSS.
GEER supported a post earthquake and tsunami reconnaissance mission to Palu, Indonesia in November 2018.
The reconnaissance team spent time in Palu, Sulawesi, mapping and characterizing large ground failures using RAPID UAVs and GPS equipment.
Researchers from University of Washington and Auburn University traveled to the Panhandle of Florida in early November following Hurricane Michael, which made landfall in Mexico Beach, FL on October 10th. A project funded by the National Science Foundation, its primary focus was to assess the damage done to large-scale industrial buildings. The team utilized RAPID’s extensive equipment portfolio bringing with them numerous cameras (DJI Osmo, Insta360, Canon DSLR, and Flir), DJI Phantom and Matrice 210 drones, the Leica TS16 and Maptek XR3 long-range scanner.
Aerial photograph of wind damage to a large-scale industrial building.
Jeff Berman, PhD, Operations Director of the RAPID Facility
Jake Dafni, PhD, Operations Manager of the RAPID Facility
Justin Marshall and David Roueche, Researchers and Professors at Auburn University
Alex Grant, Research Civil Engineer with the U.S.Geological Survey, traveled to Hokkaido, Japan following the Eastern Uburi Earthquake on September 6, 2018 to compile an inventory of landslides and lateral spreads. He brought with him RAPID Facility’s Leica BLK360 Scanner and Maptek XR3 laser scanner to collect point cloud data.
Alex Grant, Research Civil Engineer with the U.S.Geological Survey
Point cloud data Alex collected from one of the landslides
Alex brought to Japan RAPID’s Maptek XR3 (shown here).
Following Hurricane Florence, the StEER/RAPID team used RAPID Facility’s Applied Streetview, as well as Mavic Air and Matrice 210 drones to assess flooding and wind damage in and around Elizabethtown, North Carolina in late September.
Sean Yeung and Jake Dafni from the NHERI RAPID Facility at UW
Left to Right: Andre Barbosa, PhD, Associate Professor in Structural Engineering at OSU; Jake Dafni, PhD, Geotechnical Engineer and Operations Manager of the RAPID at UW; Sean Yeung, Instrumentation Specialist at UW; Christine Wittich, PhD, Assistant Professor in Civil Engineering Depart. at UNL; Daniel Smith, PhD, Senior Research Fellow at JCU (Australia).
