Bridge Structural Deformation Monitoring Using Digital Camera

Burgeoning off-the-selves Digital Single Lens Reflector (DSLR) cameras have been gaining attentions as a fast and affordable tool for conducting deformation monitoring of man-made engineering structures. When a sub millimetre of accuracy is sought, deliberate concerns of their usage must be considered since lingering systematic errors in the imaging process plaque such non metric cameras. This paper discusses a close range photogrammetric method to conduct structure deformation monitoring of the bridge using the digital DSLR camera. The bridge is located in Malang Municipality, East Java province, Indonesia. There are more than 100 images of the bridge’s concrete pillars were photographed using convergent photogrammetric network at distance variations between 5m to 30m long on each epoch. Then, the coordinates of around 550 captured retro-reflective markers attached on the pillars facade are calculated using self-calibrating bundle adjustment method. The coordinate differences of the markers from the two consecutive epochs are detected with a magnitude between 0.03 mm to 6 mm with a sub-millimetre precision measurement level. However, by using global congruency testing and a localization of deformation testing, it is confirmed that the bridge pillar’s structures are remain stable between those epochs.