Development of monocular video deflectometer based on inclination sensors

The video deflectometer based on digital image correlation is a non-contacting optical measurement method which has become a useful tool for characterization of the vertical deflections of large structures. In this study, a novel imaging model has been established which considers the variations of pitch angles in the full image. The new model allows deflection measurement at a wide working distance with high accuracy. A monocular video deflectometer has been accordingly developed with an inclination sensor, which facilitates dynamic determination of the orientations and rotation of the optical axis of the camera. This layout has advantages over the video deflectometers based on theodolites with respect to convenience. Experiments have been presented to show the accuracy of the new imaging model and the performance of the monocular video deflectometer in outdoor applications. Finally, this equipment has been applied to the measurement of the vertical deflection of Yingwuzhou Yangtze River Bridge in real time at a distance of hundreds of meters. The results show good agreement with the embedded GPS outputs.