Measurement of Structural Deformation using Terrestrial Laser Scanners

Three deformation measurement experiments have been undertaken where, in each experiment, a structure was subject to controlled loading. Terrestrial laser scanners (TLSs) were used to make measurements at critical intervals during each load test. TLSs, which are a relatively recent innovation, are capable of rapidly capturing thousands of three dimensional points over the surface of an object. They are largely untried in the area of structural deformation monitoring. The purpose of these tests is to assess the sensitivity of TLSs for the measurement of vertical deformation of loaded structures and to investigate their potential for metrology tasks where remote observations (completely non-contact and targetless at distances greater than 5m) are desirable.