Application of 3D digital image correlation in maintenance and process control in industry

•We implemented and tested an early version of the procedure for automatic merging of 3D DIC data.•Each pair of images from each data set (acquired from a slightly different position of cameras) is transformed to the coordinate system of the reference pair.•In order to track a failure process and to visualize a possible asymmetry of displacements maps we propose another way of DIC results presentation, which is based on extraction of displacements and strains along chosen lines.•We present application of 3D DIC aided with automatic merging of data procedure that concerns measurements of building struts’ deformations.

3D digital image correlation method is widely used for displacements measurements in laboratory conditions and for experimental applications in industries. In this paper we present enhancements of the standard method, which enable application of 3D DIC for in situ monitoring and process control in industries and out-door environment. Enhancements concern software modifications (new visualization methods and a method for automatic merging of data distributed in time) and hardware improvements (protecting equipment against hard environmental conditions).The modified 3D DIC system is applied in two interesting cases: measurements of steel struts at construction site and measurements of a pipeline in an intermediate pumping station. In both applications we additionally used an infrared camera in order to correlate deformations of measured objects with temperature changes.