Application of stereovision on a saddle-shaped membrane structure in aero-elastic wind tunnel test

Some conventional measurements (e.g., accelerometer) are usually used to measure the aero-elastic responses of membrane structures in the field of civil engineering, which are usually measured by using contact sensors, and just one-dimensional data of a single point can be obtained. To deal with this disadvantage, a stereovision measurement is equipped after putting forward a series of algorithms. This newly formed measurement is adopted to measure the aero-elastic responses of a saddle-shaped membrane structure. Before measuring, a series of observations are carried out and discussed by considering the characteristic of the test model, wind tunnel, and interference from the inflow, which is merely mentioned in the previous research. Finally, the full field distribution of average displacement of membrane, under different wind directions and wind speeds, is given. The time history of full field displacement distribution is also presented as a gif file. This successful application implies that when adopting such a stereovision measurement system, it is necessary to optimize the installation of cameras. After an appropriate installation design, the proposed stereovision measurement will make up the disadvantages of conventional measurements and can obtain the full field aero-elastic responses of membrane structures.