Functional Assessment and Implementation Studies on the 3D Printing Process in Structural Monitoring Applications

Construction works, especially in the case of large road or tunnel investments, require the active participation of surveyors. It applies to classic geodetic procedures such as staking out or conducting control measurements and continuously monitoring displacements and deformations. Negative factors at surveying sites may hinder the implementation or directly affect the instruments, especially total stations. Heavy dust and rainfall containing harmful and destructive substances can be mentioned here. Contemporary measuring instruments are technologically complex and expensive devices, often exposed to the sun, wind, and frost. To mainly protect robotic total stations, various preventing housings are used. Practice shows, however, that these are half-hearted solutions, often negatively influencing the accuracy of the surveys. Based on the authors’ professional and scientific experience, a technological line using the modeling and 3D printing of protective housings for robotic electronic total stations has been developed. The workflow includes dedicated online modeling and printing unique instrument covers that best suit certain sites. The prototype was shielded with an additional hydrophobic layer and tested in a geodetic laboratory. The validation results confirm the high usability of the technological line while maintaining the appropriate millimeter level positioning accuracy and effectiveness of the geodetic monitoring.