Infrared thermography (IRT) techniques for building inspection are currently becoming increasingly popular as non-destructive methods that provide valuable information about surface temperature (ST) and ST contrast (delta-T). With the advent of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-mounted thermal cameras, IRT technology is now endowed with improved flexibility from an aerial perspective for the study of building envelopes. A case study cellar in Northwest (NW) Spain is used to assess the capability and reliability of low-altitude passive IRT in evaluating a typical semi-buried building. The study comparatively assesses the use of a pole-mounted FLIR B335 camera and a drone-mounted FLIR Vue Pro R camera for this purpose. Both tested IRT systems demonstrate good effectiveness in detecting thermal anomalies (e.g., thermal bridges, air leakages, constructive singularities, and moisture in the walls of the cellar) but pose some difficulties in performing accurate ST measurements under real operating conditions. Working with UAVs gives great flexibility for the inspection, but the angle of view strongly influences the radiometric data captured and must be taken into account to avoid disturbances due to specular reflections.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.