Structural Health Monitoring of Multi-story Buidings via Robotic Laser Scanning Systems

This study aims to develop a programmable robotic scanning system, which is based on remote sensing and non-contact measurement techniques, for structural health monitoring of multi-story buildings, bridges and similar structures. The proposed system is based on laser Doppler interferometry and can easily be applied to almost all kinds of structures without needing to install any sensors on the structure. In order to take measurements with high accuracy and spatial resolution, the utilized laser Doppler vibrometer is mounted on a motorized platform which can independently rotate about the horizontal and vertical axes. A unified monitoring system, which enables user to control several test parameters through a personal computer, was formed by means of the integrated camera imaging system, control algorithms and user interface. The developed scanning system was tested in the lab on small scale multi-story building models and it was demonstrated that the dynamic properties of the structure can be extracted with high accuracy and resolution. The proposed system can be programmed to scan several structures successively by using the same device. The analysis results show that natural frequencies, damping ratios and mode shapes of the test structures can be extracted in a fast and efficient way