Application of a Photogrammetric System for Monitoring Civil Engineering Structures

Abstract

Several traditional measuring apparatus are used to check the stability of civil engineering structures and maintenance of them. The measured results are applied for the deformation and stability analysis of civil engineering structures. Currently, precision and micro measuring instruments are used for stability evaluations of civil engineering structures. Furthermore, the measuring apparatus have been changed from manual systems to automatic systems. For example, total station, one of the traditional and manual measuring methods, is transferred to digital photogrammetry with high technology development. Especially, the movement of target points is able to be measured in real-time automatically because it can be obtained 3-dimensional coordinates by digital photogrammetry. The use of automatic measuring methods has been researched in several different industries (Hannah, 1989; Lee et al., 2006). The applications of digital photogrammetry are increased in various civil engineering structures (Han et al., 2001; Han & Song, 2003; Han et al., 2007, 2008). It shows that the automatic and high-tech measuring system likeVisual Monitoring System (VMS) based on digital photogrammetry is able to apply to the stability evaluations of large civil engineering structures.