Displacement and deformation measurement for large structures by camera network

•A displacement and deformation measurement method for large structures by a camera network is presented.•A series-parallel connection camera network is designed for the dynamic monitoring of a crane in lifting operation.•A large structure′s displacement and its some interesting parts' relative movement and deformation can be measured.•The new method can accomplish the measurement with low cost by a relatively simple optical measurement system.

A displacement and deformation measurement method for large structures by a series-parallel connection camera network is presented. By taking the dynamic monitoring of a large-scale crane in lifting operation as an example, a series-parallel connection camera network is designed, and the displacement and deformation measurement method by using this series-parallel connection camera network is studied. The movement range of the crane body is small, and that of the crane arm is large. The displacement of the crane body, the displacement of the crane arm relative to the body and the deformation of the arm are measured. Compared with a pure series or parallel connection camera network, the designed series-parallel connection camera network can be used to measure not only the movement and displacement of a large structure but also the relative movement and deformation of some interesting parts of the large structure by a relatively simple optical measurement system.