Remote sensing in structural diagnostics has recently been gaining attention. These techniques allow the creation of three-dimensional projections of the measured objects, and are relatively easy to use. One of the most popular branches of remote sensing is terrestrial laser scanning. Laser scanners are fast and efficient, gathering up to one million points per second. However, the weakness of terrestrial laser scanning is the troublesome processing of point clouds. Currently, many studies deal with the subject of point cloud processing in various areas, but it seems that there are not many clear procedures that we can use in practice, which indicates that point cloud processing is one of the biggest challenges of this issue. To tackle that challenge we propose a general framework for studying the structural deformations of bridges. We performed an advanced object shape analysis of a composite foot-bridge, which is subject to spatial deformations during the proof loading process. The added value of this work is the comprehensive procedure for bridge evaluation, and adaptation of the spheres translation method procedure for use in bridge engineering. The aforementioned method is accurate for the study of structural element deformation under monotonic load. The study also includes a comparative analysis between results from the spheres translation method, a total station, and a deflectometer. The results are characterized by a high degree of convergence and reveal the highly complex state of deformation more clearly than can be concluded from other measurement methods, proving that laser scanning is a good method for examining bridge structures with several competitive advantages over mainstream measurement methods.

The paper presents the structural health monitoring system of the composite bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. The footbridge was designed and manufactured within the FOBRIDGE project. It is the first bridge in the world, which is classified as a consistent single element structural girder, made of sandwich shells, entirely produced in a single cycle. The developed structural health monitoring system, supported design process, gave a possibility to confirm assumed capacity and to observe long-term rheological changes in structural material. The proposed SHM system contains three subsystems: monitoring of strains, vibrations and displacements. It is based on different kind of measurement sensors and precision levelling. The paper contains introduction to the topic, detailed description of the monitoring system and example results with reference to theoretical values.

The article describes interdisciplinary and comprehensive non-destructive diagnostic tests of final bridge inspection and acceptance proposed for a soil-steel bridge made of corrugated sheets, being the European span length record holder (25.74 m). As an effect of an original concept a detailed and precise information about the structure short-term response was collected. Periodic diagnostics of bridge deformations was done one year after it was built. Load test design was based on numerical simulations performed by means of finite element method (FEM). In situ measurements were done with the aid of: inductive sensors, optical total station, and terrestrial laser scanner. The results produced by terrestrial laser scanning were used to build a precise image of structure deformation in 3D space during the tests. The accuracy of laser mapping was significantly increased using the information coming from total station and inductive sensors. These have higher accuracy and therefore can be used as reference. Thus, new quality in measurements is introduced. Good correspondence between in situ values and FEM estimations was achieved. Therefore, such a combination of testing methods can be used in non-destructive diagnostics of structures and is an interesting alternative for the standard approach, in which the measurements are done in limited number of points.