MONITORING THE TESTING, CONSTRUCTION AND AS-BUILT CONDITION OF MEMBRANE STRUCTURES BY CLOSE RANGE PHOTOGRAMMETRY

Engineering deformation monitoring requires techniques which can produce high precision and accuracy, reliable measurements at good temporal resolution and fast processing speed. Moreover, monitoring in civil engineering is generally considered to be labour-intensive and financially expensive, and it can take significant effort to arrange the necessary human resources, transportation and equipment maintenance. Such requirements are especially true for monitoring non-rigid membrane structures (defined in this paper as covers or enclosures in which a fabric surface is pre-shaped and pre-tensioned to provide a shape that is stable under environmental loads). Low cost, automated, photogrammetric techniques therefore have the potential to become routinely viable for the structural monitoring of non-rigid membrane structures in the future. This research is investigating the use of close range photogrammetry to be applied at all stages of membrane structure engineering, from materials testing, through dimensional control in construction to in-situ, as-built monitoring of the finished construct.