Dam Culvert Drone Inspection
Project - Mining Infrastructure
Client | Tier 1 Miner
Scope | Internal Drone Inspection
Equipment | Elios 3 RPAS
Sector | Mining
Location | Queensland
Azure was engaged by a major mining company to conduct a structural inspection of a dam culvert at a remote coal mine in Queensland.
The Elios 3 RPAS was used to conduct the inspection, as no physical access was possible due to stagnant water and confined space entry restrictions. Usually, this would have been a straightforward scope, however the project presented a challenge when our team unexpectedly found a family of bats living in the structure during our initial recon flight.
To ensure the safety of the bats and to minimise risk to the Elios 3 RPAS when approaching the full 100m inspection depth, our team collaborated with the client to develop a plan to conduct the inspection as night work when the bats had left the structure to hunt for the night.
The scope was successfully completed in full without delays, and in compliance with safety and environmental expectations, and the visual and point cloud deliverables were handed over to a happy client.
Benefits of drones for internal Mine Dam Culvert Inspections
Efficiency
The client had attempted to dewater the culvert several times without success so that engineers could enter the confined space to inspect the culvert. With physical access not permitted, Azure deployed our Elios 3 RPAS to successfully enter the culvert without dewatering and delivered the required visual dataset.
Safety
The Elios 3 RPAS eliminated the need for entry into the confined space of the culvert, which was not permitted by the site owner unless the culvert was completely empty. This kept the inspection team safe while gathering key data.
Operations
The traditional method of dewatering and entering the culvert requires multiple teams and sometimes multiple attempts to facilitate access. Use of the Elios 3 RPAS mitigated project risk and ensured a successful delivery of the inspection on the first visit, preventing delays and additional costs.
Data Quality
Azure’s remote pilot inspection team provided high resolution 4k video and full 3D model of the culvert to the client, including localised points of interest. This streamlined the engineering assessment and pinpointed the position of any defects that needed additional review.
