Photogrammetry-based structural damage detection by tracking a visible laser line

Research works on photogrammetry have received tremendous attention in the past few decades. One advantage of photogrammetry is that it can measure displacement and deformation of a structure in a fully non-contact, full-field manner. As a non-destructive evaluation method, photogrammetry can be used to detect structural damage by identifying local anomalies in measured deformation of a structure. Numerous methods have been proposed to measure deformations by tracking exterior features of structures, assuming that the features can be consistently identified and tracked on sequences of digital images captured by cameras. Such feature-tracking methods can fail if the features do not exist on captured images. One feasible solution to the potential failure is to artificially add exterior features to structures. However, painting and mounting such features can introduce unwanted permanent surficial modifications, mass loads, and stiffness changes to structures. In this article, a photogrammetry-based structural damage detection method is developed, where a visible laser line is projected to a surface of a structure, serving as an exterior feature to be tracked; the projected laser line is massless and its existence is temporary. A laser-line-tracking technique is proposed to track the projected laser line on captured digital images. Modal parameters of a target line corresponding to the projected laser line can be estimated by conducting experimental modal analysis. By identifying anomalies in curvature mode shapes of the target line and mapping the anomalies to the projected laser line, structural damage can be detected with identified positions and sizes. An experimental investigation of the damage detection method was conducted on a damaged beam. Modal parameters of a target line corresponding to a projected laser line were estimated, which compared well with those from a finite element model of the damaged beam. Experimental damage detection results were validated by numerical ones from the finite element model.