Application of Laser Scanning to Structural Testing in Earthquake Engineering, Field Survey, and Structural Assessment of an Earthquake Aftermath

The capabilities and advantages of laser scanners used for structural engineering applications to monitor and assess structural damage in laboratory tests and post-earthquake field survey are discussed. High definition laser scans have many advantages over conventional instrumentation as follows: (1) they capture three dimensional global deformations of large objects with accuracy, (2) they allow access to objects without spatial constraint and remote assessment by scanning from a distance, and (3) they reduce need for installing instruments in hard-to-reach locations and places with compromised safety. This paper summarizes results of the laser scanning research conducted at the University of California at Berkeley’s experimental site of the network for earthquake engineering simulation (NEES) in the past eight years. The laser scan data are compared with data from conventional position transducers to validate the approach and estimate accuracy of measurements. Several case studies are presented to demonstrate advantages and limitations of laser scanning technique. The paper also covers the first attempt of use of high-definition laser scanning technology in field surveys for structural damage assessment in the aftermath of the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. Damage assessment was performed for several structures and building blocks using the scans and the results were compared to qualitative results of visual ground survey. The techniques of gathering and disseminating critical information employed in this study is expected to have major impact on future field investigations of structures after earthquakes and become one of the means towards “instrumented cities.” This is shown at the end of this paper by an application involving recently conducted condition assessment of historical buildings in Uzbekistan. Site Operations Manager of nees@berkeley, PEER, University of California at Berkeley, Richmond, CA 94804 Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UC Berkeley, Berkeley CA 94710 Takhirov SM, Mosalam KM. Application of Laser Scanning to Structural Testing in Earthquake Engineering, Field Survey, and Structural Assessment of an Earthquake Aftermath. Proceedings of the 10 National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Anchorage, AK, 2014. Tenth U.S. National Conference on Earthquake Engineering Frontiers of Earthquake Engineering