Development of Linear Feature Based Non-Contact Bridge Deflection Monitoring System

In any infrastructure project, monitoring and managing the built assets is an important task. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is meant for continuous assessment of safety and serviceability of a structure and its elements. SHM has taken a leading role in the field of structural engineering and has become very popular in recent age. Bridge deflection is the basic evaluation index to examine the health status of a bridge structure. The existing bridge monitoring systems have several drawbacks. Hence, a new methodological approach has been proposed to overcome the limitations of traditional contact-based bridge deflection monitoring system and other non-contact based system. This study developed a non-contact linear feature based Deflection Monitoring System (DMS) using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and cameras for timber railroad bridges. The process and detailed workflow of building the DMS, its components and sensors involved are discussed here. The efficiency of this DMS is validated against a deflectometer.