Steels Specimens’ Inspection with Structured Light Scanner

With the recent rapid advances in technology, the use of 3D scanning systems in the engineering world has become more and more prevalent thanks to the ease of use, the improved data collection process, and the increase in the accuracy of the acquired data. During the rebuilding of the Tisza bridge on the M4 motorway, the contractor discovered that the plates used to build the steel superstructure had developed corrosion damage during several years of storage. Plates with a tolerable level of corrosion were intended to be used, but the question was how the increased surface roughness will affect the fatigue life of the plates and the welded steel fabrications made from the plates. As part of this test, fatigue specimens were measured from the material to be used for the bridge and welded with two different geometries with the help of a structured light 3D scanner (SLS scanner). This paper discusses the measurement and inspection of these steel specimens of a highway bridge, before and after the fatigue test of the parts. From the acquired data we examined defects on the surface of the parts, physical deformations by comparing measured data to a CAD model and calculated the amount of material which was lost during stress testing.