Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning for Dynamic Bridge Deflection Measurement

Heavy vehicular traffic and aggressive environmental conditions can cause unexpected bridge deterioration, thus requiring periodic inspections to identify and assess possible defects. One indicator is the amount of vertical deflection that occurs during loading. Monitoring vertical bridge deflection through traditional surveying typically requires multiple instruments and extensive time in the field, along with their affiliated costs. A terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) can generate a million data points per second with millimeter level accuracy, thus offering the possibility of changing how vertical deflections of bridge girders are checked. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into using TLS to collecting vertical bridge displacements during dynamic loading. In this work, a point-surface based method is proposed to calculate the difference in elevation of a bridge girder at unloaded and loaded conditions. The technique is applied to the Loughbrickland Bridge in Northern Ireland.