Rotational angle measurement of bridge support using image processing techniques

Measuring a very small rotational angle accurately and dynamically is indeed a challenging issue, especially in the case of bridge support. Also, existing inclinometers do not have sufficient resolution and accuracy to measure a bridge's rotational angle. In this study, a new measurement system was developed to provide a practical means for measuring dynamic rotational angle of a bridge support. It features high resolution and accuracy compared with the available systems on the market. By the combinational use of a laser pointer and a vision-based displacement measurement system, the measurement accuracy was significantly increased. The accuracy and applicability were investigated through laboratory tests. From the laboratory tests, it has been found that the developed system can be applicable to bridge support with very small rotational angle. The effectiveness of the developed system was verified through field tests on real bridges. From the full-scale implementation on two PSC girder bridges, it is observed that the proposed system can measure the rotational angle with a high accuracy and reliability.