Optical Nondestructive Evaluation for Structures

Abstract This paper presents a new technique for evaluation of engineering structures, using optical measurement and probabilistic advancing cross-diagnosis. Its application is first computersimulated, and then it is tested in the laboratory. With the cooperation of the U.S. Federal Highway Administration, a recently developed coherent laser radar system was used to measure structural deformation. The data are treated to reduce noise and used to derive multiple features for reliable diagnosis. Both the simulation and laboratory test results show consistent effectiveness of the proposed technique, indicating a promising direction of nondestructive evaluation combining optical and computer technology.