Measurement of soil deformation around the tip of model pile by close-range photogrammetry

In this paper, we studied on measurement of soil deformation around the tip of model pile by close-range photogrammetry. The rigorous bundle adjustment method was utilized to monitor the soil deformation in the laboratory model pile-load test as function of incremental penetration of the pile. Control points were installed on the frame of the laboratory model box case and more than 150 target points were inserted inside the soil around the model pile and on the surface. Four overlapping images including three horizontal and one vertical image were acquired by a non-metric camera for each penetration step. The images were processed to automatically locate the control and target points in the images for the self-calibration and the bundle adjustment. During the bundle adjustment, the refraction index of the acrylic case of the laboratory model was accounted for accurate measurement. The experiment showed the proposed approach enabled the automated photogrammetric monitoring of soil deformation around the tip of model pile.