Rapid Assessment of the Verticality of Structural Objects with a Circular Base

Abstract

Structural health monitoring represents an important task that involves various measurements and methods. Due to its importance, it uses the best available equipment and the most advanced algorithms to give precise and reliable information about an object's health. For tall objects such as chimneys, towers, and masts the main criterion of stability is verticality deviation (inclination). However, sometimes it is necessary to get a rapid assessment of an object’s stability and in that case, accuracy and reliability are sacrificed to save time. In this paper, an approach for rapid assessment of verticality of structural objects with a circular base is presented. Geodetic methods were used to measure points in two levels on the perimeter of the object. Three algebraic methods for circle fitting were used to determine the center coordinates and radius of the object in the two observed cross-sections. The final step was to determine the spatial vector which represents the object’s axis and compare it to the theoretical vertical. The proposed approach is fast, simple, and inexpensive in terms of equipment, human resources, and software necessary for data processing but at the same time, it is less accurate and reliable compared to the state of the art approaches for object verticality assessment.