Spatio-temporal models for vibration monitoring of elongated structures using profile laser scans

Vibration monitoring is a frequent task within the general topic of Structural Health Monitoring. For this monitoring, usually accelerometers, strain gauges, fibre optic sensors or Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receivers are placed on pre-selected positions on the structure and the point-wise measurements are individually processed to estimate the relevant modal parameters, for example, oscillating amplitudes and natural frequencies. If laser scanners were used for vibration monitoring, the analyses could be performed with a significantly higher spatial resolution that would be beneficial especially for locating structural weaknesses. However, to apply laser scanners rigorously to vibration monitoring, spatio-temporal models need to be set up. With this study, we develop and discuss four spatio-temporal models applied to the simulated vibration monitoring of a bridge deck. Therefore, we formulate either functional as well as stochastic connections between neighbored measurement positions within the estimation of the parameters of a harmonic oscillation. We reveal that those models allow an improved parameter estimation compared to the usually used strategies-even at lower measurement frequencies and shorter observation lengths.