CCTV Camera Array for the Displacement and Strain Measurement of a Beam Specimen in a Laboratory

The available conventional sensors, like displacement transducers, used in the Structural Engineering Laboratory are expensive. In addition to that, the need for data acquisition devices also escalates the expense invested in point contact measurement systems. The recent appeal of vision-based measurement and the search for cost-effectiveness has led to an exploration of the established sampling moiré method using cheap closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras as a viable option. The sampling moiré method is simple and analyzes the displacements from grating images by a phase-shifting method. Several trial experiments were conducted, which demonstrated that the setup is at least as accurate as the traditional measuring system. An experiment was conducted on a steel I-beam for displacement measurement, which displayed satisfactory results. In addition, the setup was also tested for strain measurement, and it has yielded promising results that need fine-tuning. This paper discusses the challenges, findings, and the possibility of incorporating vision-based displacement measurements in laboratory platforms.