Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

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Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jweia

Reliability verification of a vision-based dynamic displacement

measurement for system identification
Hongjin Kim, Seunghoon Shin *
Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea

A B S T R A C T

In this paper, dynamic experiments of various amplitudes with a broad band of frequencies were carried out using a shaking table in order to validate the wide-range
reliability of a vision-based displacement measurement system. In addition, the dynamic characteristics of a multiple-degree-of-freedom model structures were
estimated using the vision-based measurement method. As a result of error analysis through comparison with a laser displacement sensor (LDS), it was determined that
the accuracy of dynamic displacement measurement by the camcorder in the vision-based system is affected by the frequency of the measurement object. From these
results, it is judged that the CMOS sensor type has the rolling shutter effect when the velocity between the model structure and the camcorder is high. The accuracy of
dynamic characteristics estimation was determined by comparing the dynamic characteristics estimated using the LDSs and the accelerometers. The vision-based
measurement system using the camcorder in both time domain and frequency domains showed very similar results to the existing LDS and accelerometer
measurements.

1. Introduction
Due to the advancements in various social structures, the demand for
structural health monitoring (SHM) is steadily increasing. Monitoring of
structures requires continuous measurement, and the behavior of a
structure under various load conditions can be estimated by the identi-
fied dynamic characteristics based on the continuously measured results.
In order to identify the dynamic characteristics of the structure,
displacement or acceleration measurement data are generally used, while
the data are acquired via displacement sensors and accelerometers. The
importance of measurement is especially great for displacement data, as
its utilization level is high, not only for the identification of dynamic
characteristics but also the risk of collapse of the structure.
Displacement sensor are divided into contact and non-contact type
sensors; the contact type sensor has difficulties in applying the dynamic
behavior of an actual structure due to the limitation of the tracking
ability and the setting of the measurement reference point. Typical ex-
amples of non-contact type sensors include the global positioning system
(GPS), laser displacement sensor (LDS), and vision-based displacement
measurement System (VDMS). GPS is comparatively easy to measure on
site but its measurement precision is not reliable, which usually has an
error in the range of 5–10 mm (Breuer, P. et al. (2002), The National
Academy of Engineering (2008)). LDS typically has a high accuracy, but
it is a relatively expensive device. In addition, the measurement distance
of LDS is shortened for increasing the accuracy – the effective distance
that data can be obtained at is only ~20–40 cm. Although it can be
applied to model structure measurements, it is difficult to apply to actual
building measurements (Khuc, T. and Catbas, F. N. (2016), Heo, S.J.et al.
(2017), Kohut, P. et al. (2013), Fukuda, Y. (2010, 2013)).
Meanwhile, VDMS acquires images through portable image equip-
ment such as a camcorder, and obtains displacements of structures after
analyzation of the images. In this method, measurement is performed in a
non-contact manner from a long distance, i.e., remotely, and other
measurement devices are not necessary. Therefore, site condition con-
straints are negligibly small compared with conventional contact and
non-contact sensor measurement methods. Due to various advantages of
VDMS, research in this field trying to overcome limitations of conven-
tional sensor-based displacement measurement has been increasingly
actively conducted.
Early research on image analysis in the construction and civil engi-
neering field was focused mainly on large-scale civil engineering struc-
tures such as tunnels and bridge crack detection. But due to the
development of video equipment and analytical techniques, it tended to
gradually expand into various other fields of structural response mea-
surement (Park, J.C. et al. (2014)) such as thermal deformation mea-
surements of girders (Fraser, C.S. and Riedel, B. (2000)) and ground
subsidence displacement measurements (White, D.J. et al.(2003)).
Along with the development of video equipment, it became possible
to acquire a high frame rate—or frame per second (fps)—image, research
about measuring the dynamic displacement of structures was performed.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ssh10004ok@knu.ac.kr (S. Shin).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jweia.2019.05.015
Received 28 September 2018; Received in revised form 23 April 2019; Accepted 22 May 2019
Available online 31 May 2019
0167-6105/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
H. Kim, S. Shin
Research on image processing technologies has steadily progressed with
the development of video equipment, and results of various studies for
improving measurement performance and efficiency were published.
Lee, J.J. and Shinozuka, M. (2006) applied the concept of region of in-
terest (ROI) to minimize the target area for image processing, and used a
threshold to clarify the distinction between the target and the back-
ground. Kim, S.W. and Kim, N.S. (2009) presented a method to measure
the displacement of a structure using regular cross-correlation in image
matching. Furthermore, Park et al. (2010) proposed a method that can
measure the displacement of a high-rise structure using a partitioning
approach, and Lee et al. (2012) performed displacement measurements
on full-scale structures applying the partitioning method. Choi et al.
(2011) set the resizing factor and selectively magnified the analysis re-
gion in the image, thereby achieving improvement of the target recog-
nition accuracy and displacement measurement performance. Lee et al.
(2014) utilized a plane homograph matrix expressing the correspondence
relationship between the image and the actual coordinates, which greatly
reduced the measurement error according to the shooting angle. Chen, Su
et al. (2015) showed that it is possible to control the drift which may
occur in the measurement result depending on whether or not a filter is
applied to the dynamic displacement measurement. It became also
possible to shorten the time to calculate the displacement due to the
development of the image processing method, and through this, the real
time displacement measurement and the alarm system has also been
developed. Kang et al. (2017) introduced a real time displacement
measurement program using a pan-tilt-zoom camera and the program
gave an alarm notification when the collision risk range reached a
dangerous level.
The scope of the research has expanded and the discussion on the
actual application of the structure has gradually begun. As part of this
trend, there has been a lot of research on non-target measurement
methods for exchanging artificial targets. The research aims to measure
the displacement by replacing existing targets with singular points such
as bolt holes, edge intersections, and corners of structures (Feng, D. and
Feng, M.Q. (2016))..bib_Feng_and_Feng_2016
Static and dynamic displacement measurement performance of
VDMSs has been verified through numerous previous studies, and
research to analyze the dynamic characteristics of a structure by using the
measured displacement data is also being developed. Kim et al. (2010)
analyzed the vibration characteristics of cables based on identification
studies of dynamic characteristics of bridges. Kim S.W. and Kim, N.S.
(2011) analyzed the dynamic characteristics from a shaking table
experiment on a two-story steel structure with multiple targets attached.
Jo et al. (2016) introduced a prototype program for estimating the dy-
namic characteristics of the structure by analyzing the acquired images
and tried to carry out the measurement and dynamic analysis collec-
tively. Recently, the research by Choi et al. (2016) and Feng, D. et al.
(2016) was conducted to measure dynamic displacement without artifi-
cial targets and analyze the dynamic characteristics of the structure using
the measured displacement data.
However, in previous research on dynamic VDMS, the estimated
range of dynamic characteristics is limited because previous research was
performed on a specific object such as a bridge or a model structure.
Therefore, sufficient verification is not enough to apply the VDMS to the
estimation of dynamic characteristics of a wide range of structures and
SHM. In this paper, in order to secure the wide range reliability of the
dynamic characteristic estimation of the VDMS, dynamic experiments of
various amplitudes with a broad band of frequencies were carried out
using a shaking table. Set to sine wave, and images were analyzed with an
attached target that represents the displacement of the shaking table. The
dynamic displacement obtained by image analysis is compared with the
dynamic displacement obtained by the conventional contact/non-contact
sensor, LVDT (wire- and pole-type) and LDS. The accuracy was analyzed
in the time and frequency domain.
Furthermore, based on a verification of the reliability of the VDMS,
this study identifies the dynamic characteristics of a multi degree of
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Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31
freedom (MDOF) structure using VDMS. In order to verify the applica-
bility for structures in a wide natural frequency band, 15 model struc-
tures were designed and used for experiments. Shaking table experiments
with white noise were performed, and the dynamic characteristics were
identified through the measurement results. The accuracy of the dynamic
characteristic estimation through the VDMS was compared with the
dynamic characteristics estimated using an LDS and an accelerometer.
2. VDMS
Generally, VDMS consists of a process of extracting frames from
continuous images at certain time intervals, setting an ROI, and obtaining
the position information of the target. By resetting the area designated by
the ROI as the analysis target from all the images in the video, data
throughput can be reduced and the time required for the analysis
shortened. The actual displacement corresponding to one pixel in the
video image (mm/pixel coefficient; MPC) can be defined and the MPC
can be used to calculate the actual displacement of the tracked target
image.
2.1. DDVS method
In this paper, image analysis was performed using the dynamic
displacement vision system (DDVS) technique introduced by Choi et al.
(2011). There are three major concepts in the DDVS method. First, in
order to reduce calculation errors, MPC is updated for each frame. Sec-
ondly, in order to increase calculation accuracy, low resolution ROI im-
ages are enlarged. Finally, the target is designed in five circles and set in a
cross.
In the DDVS method, the updated MPC is applied in consideration of
the distortion generated at the time of conversion to each frame. As a
result of the movement of the target, the measurement distance and the
angle change. Consequently, the displacement value per pixel in the
image also changes and the same MPC cannot be used for all frames.
Using the MPC update algorithm that matches the condition of each
frame, the actual generated displacement of the target can be tracked and
calculated.
In general, the designation of an ROI is executed for the purpose of
improving the operation speed of image analysis and managing memory
usage. Hence, even in the DDVS method, setting the ROI to include the
range of the expected generated displacement of the target is requested.
After specifying absolute coordinates of the ROI in the image of the first
frame, VDMS applies that information to all frames, tracking the position
of the target in the region of interest and measuring the displacement.
The number of target pixels in the image is determined by the actual
target size and the distance to the target. For this reason, the target pixel
amount occupied in the image is very small if the target structure is large
with many measuring points. Due to the limited number of pixels, the
recognition rate of the target decreases and the accuracy of the image
analysis decreases accordingly. In order to improve the accuracy of the
analysis, the concept of enlargement of the designated ROI in the image is
applied. The enlargement of the image restores the image distortion due
to a smaller number of pixels, which makes it possible to secure sufficient
pixels for analysis.
Additionally, in the DDVS method, five circles with same size placed
in a cross shape were used for a single target. An error can be occurred in
the center of the target because the image of the target is bent due to the
rapid movement of the measurement object. In order to minimize this
type of image distortion, the shape of the target was set as a circle. A
target was designed by arranging one circle on each of the upper, lower,
left, and right sides of the center circle, and the distances between the
center circle and the center of the adjacent circle were set in advance.
It is possible to calculate the actual displacement of the pixels in the
image by using the known distance between the centers of each preset
circle. Then, the calculated distances between the center circle and the
centers of the adjacent circles can be used to calculate the displacement
H. Kim, S. Shin
Fig. 1. Test setup.
of the target in the horizontal and the vertical directions.
3. Experimental setup
3.1. Reliability validation test
Reliability validation tests were carried out using a wide range of sine
wave frequencies with varying amplitudes in a shaking table. The
shaking table used in the experiment is a uni-axial, which is shown in
Fig. 1(a). The shaking table was driven by the NI PXI-1024Q shown in
Fig. 1(b), and various values of acceleration were input using a LabVIEW
based program (Hwang, S. et al. (2012)). An inversed T jig was installed
for attachment of the target on the shaking table, and the stiffness of the
jig was designed to be sufficiently large so that its dynamic characteristics
did not affect the experiment.
The diameter of each circle was set to 30 mm and the distance be-
tween the centers of the target members inside was set to 60 mm. The
Fig. 2. Test setup.
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Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31
frequency band of sine waves was set from 0.2 to 6 Hz at 0.2 Hz in-
tervals and the peak displacement range was set from 4 to 32 mm at
4 mm intervals. Due to the limitation of the motor specification of the
shaking table, there was a limit to the maximum displacement that
could be achieved at 1.4 Hz or more. The experimental time was set to
be more than 40 times the cycle of every experiment so that enough
information could be acquired for estimating the dynamic
characteristics.
LDS, wire- and pole-type LVDTs were installed additionally to
compare measured displacements with those of the camcorder.
Displacement measurement sensors for measuring the movement of the
target displaying the displacement of the shaking table are shown in
Fig. 2.
3.2. System identification test
The model MDOF structures used in the experiment for the system
identification consisted of a 0.6 m
0.6 m
0.02 m mass body made of
aluminum alloy and iron columns with a width of 50 mm. The column
thickness was very small compared with its width in order to induce the
behavior of the whole structure in the weak direction. 15 cases of model
structures were used in the tests; one, two and three-story structures with
five different column thickness (1.5, 2.0, 3.0, 4.5, and 6.0 mm) as shown
in Fig. 3. The first natural frequency of the 15 models is distributed from
0.454 to 8.115 Hz, and the highest natural frequency of the models was
13.410 Hz when the third mode is considered. It is possible to know that
the dynamic characteristics of the measurement object are diversely
distributed.
Targets were attached on each floor of the structure including the
shaking table. The same targets consisted of the five circles with a
diameter of 30 mm arranged in a cross shape with an interval of 50 mm
were used. The distance between the camcorder and the target was 2.5 m,
and simultaneous measurement was conducted by one camcorder for
time synchronization of the collected image data. In the method of
H. Kim, S. Shin
Fig. 3. Model structures.
Fig. 4. Three-story model structure with 3 mm thick columns.
simultaneously measuring all targets with one camcorder, it is expected
that the resolution of the image for analysis will be lower than in the
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Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31
method of allocating and measuring one camcorder for each target. But
as described above, the aim was to facilitate analysis through time syn-
chronization of the collected data, and overcome the degraded resolution
by the expansion of pixels of the image. In addition, accelerometers and
LDSs were installed on each floor, and their results were measured and
compared (Huang, et al. (2018)). Fig. 4 shows the view of the experi-
mental model with three stories when the thickness of the column was
3.0 mm. The input signals from the shaking table were white noise.
3.3. Measuring sensors
Generally, it is necessary to obtain images with a high resolution and
a large number of frames in order to obtain highly reliable displacement
measurement results using image analysis. However, it is necessary to
satisfy many conditions such as the memory of the image acquisition
device, video recording time, lighting, focus, and so on to satisfying such
conditions yielding extremely expensive recording device.
In this experiment, a commercial level of image acquisition equip-
ment, FDR-AXP55 with a maximum resolution of 3840 x 2160 (www.so
ny.co.kr/electronics/handycam-camcorders/fdr-axp55/specifications),
was chosen in order to apply the VDMS in field conditions. 60 fps, which
is the maximum fps of this camcorder, was chosen for image recording
but the actual image acquisition was done at a sampling frequency of
59.84 Hz due to mechanical limitations. The resolution of the camcorder
supported in the 60 fps recording mode was 1920 x 1080 and sensor of
the camcorder is a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS)
type.
Three additional displacement sensors were used to verify the
H. Kim, S. Shin Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

Table 1 floor as shown in Fig. 3. The technical specifications of sensors used in

Measuring sensors.
Component Model Technical specifications
Camcorder Maximum resolution
1920 x 1080 (60 fps)
3840 x 2160 (30 fps)
Sensor type
CMOS sensor
LDS Measurement distance
500 mm
Measurable range
200 mm
Optical mode
Diffuse reflection
Resolution
10 μm
Wire-type LVDT Capacity
500 mm
Sensibility
20 μ strain/mm
Non-linearity
0.3% Rated Output
Pole-type LVDT Capacity
100 mm
Sensibility
100 μ strain/mm
Non-linearity
0.1% Rated Output
Accelerometer Voltage Sensibility
10,000  10% mV/g
Range
0.6 g
Transverse Sensitivity
<5%
reliability of the VDMS: KL3-W400 of KAIS was chosen as the LDS (http
://ekais.kr/ms-laser-displacement-sensor-kl3), and DP-500E and CDP-
100 of the Tokyo sokki company as the wire- and pole-type LVDTs
(www.tml.jp/e/product/transducers/general/displacement), respec-
tively. Data measured by the LDS and two LVDTs were simultaneously
recorded using a data logger TMR – 211 (www.tml.jp/e/product/ins
trument/instrument_sub/tmr211) that can adjust the sampling rate at
regular intervals. In this experiment, a 1000 Hz sampling rate was set in
order to be sufficient for dynamic displacement measurements.
In addition, the accelerometers, KB 12VD from Metra Mess-und Fre-
quenztechnik (https://mmf.de/seismic_accelerometers), was used in the
experiment for the identification of the dynamic characteristics of the
MDOF structures. The accelerometers were bolted on the aluminum mass
of each floor and the LDSs were installed on a sensor mounting jig beside
the measurement object, and had the same height as the target of each
the experiments are summarized in Table 1.
4. Reliability of vdms
4.1. Measured results
Because data acquisition using all devices was not started precisely at
the time, there was a mismatch in the time domain of the measured re-
sults. Consequently, the measured displacement was adjusted so that the
first peak value in the measured displacement graph is located at the
same time. The LDS, the wire- and pole-type LVDTs used the same data
logger and were measured with a sampling rate of 1000 Hz, while the
experimental video images were collected with the camcorder with a
specification of 60 fps but, due to the previously mentioned mechanical
limitation, the images were actually collected at 59.84 Hz. For these
reasons, within the same measurement time, the number of measured
data through conventional contact/non-contact sensors and VDMS was
different. Therefore, in order to compare the measurement results from
various sensors, it was necessary to eliminate the inconsistency in the
number of data for the comparison in the frequency domain. For that
purpose, 1000 Hz data collected by the TMR-211 data logger was re-
sampled to 200 Hz, and from the 59.84 Hz video collected, 200 Hz data
was generated after spline curve interpolation using Matlab's interp1
built-in function.
Fig. 5 shows the measured displacements for the frequency of 0.2 Hz
and the peak amplitude 32 mm. The magnified view of the peak portion
around 104 s was also presented in Fig. 5. It can be noticed that measured
dynamic displacement results of all measurement sensor types showed
roughly similar results in the point of maximum displacement arrival of
periodic motion, especially the measured result via the VDMS and LDS
showed high mutual match. However, in the case of the measured result
through the LVDT, which is a contact-type sensor, the dynamic behavior
occurring in the peak portion, where the displacement direction changes,
was missing, and these distortions occurred more in the case of the wire-
type than the pole-type LVDT.
The results in the frequency domain were compared through the Fast
Fourier Transform (FFT) of the measured dynamic displacement data,
and the FFT result using the measured dynamic displacement data when
the frequency is 0.2 Hz and the peak amplitude is 32 mm is shown in
Fig. 6. It can be seen that the peak frequency exactly matched all of the
four types of sensors, while there was a discrepancy according to the
measurement sensor in the value of magnitude. The magnitude value
measured by the LDS and pole-type LVDT was similar, and the magnitude
value measured by the wire-type LVDT which experienced loss of data
near the peak during dynamic displacement measurement was lower in
general. The magnitude value by the VDMS technique shows a relatively
large value in the frequency region of 1.0 Hz or less, a relatively small

Fig. 5. Comparison of results for displacement measurements for 0.2 Hz,  32 mm case.

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H. Kim, S. Shin Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

Fig. 6. Comparison of results for the FFT of the measured displacement for the 0.2 Hz,  32 mm case.

qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
PN ffi
value in the frequency region of 4.0 Hz or more, and a very good 1 2
N i¼1 ðxi  yi Þ
approximation between 1.0 Hz and 4.0 Hz compared with the results by NRMSE ¼
100 ð%Þ (3)
ymax  ymin
the LDS.
Here, ymax and ymin are the measured maximum and minimum
4.2. Error analysis displacement by the LDS, respectively, and xmax is the measured
maximum displacement by the other three sensors. N is the number of
Error analysis was performed in both the time and frequency do- measurement data, and yi and xi are the ith measured displacement data
mains. In the time domain, the maximum amplitude error (MAE), by the LDS and the other three sensors, respectively. Further, μy are μx are
squared value of the correlation coefficient (R2), and normalized root the mean values of the LDS measured displacements and the average of
mean squared Error (NRMSE) are used for error analysis, based on the the measured displacements by the other three sensors, respectively.
values measured by the LDS. Finally, σ y and σ x are the standard deviation of the LDS measured


displacement and the standard deviation of the displacement measured

ymax  xmax

MAE ¼



100 ð%Þ

(1) by the other three sensors, respectively.
y max In the frequency domain, the difference between the maximum
magnitude error (MME) is used, where the error of the MME was
N   
1 X yi  μy xi  μx calculated based on the magnitude value measured by the LDS. Because
R2 ¼ (2)
N  1 i¼1 σy σx the estimated peak frequencies were all the same regardless of the
measurement sensor type, it is not presented here. In the calculation

Fig. 7. Error of measurement by VDMS.

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H. Kim, S. Shin Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

Fig. 8. Error of measurement by the pole-type LVDT.

formula, Ymax and Xmax are the maximum magnitude value measured by
the LDS and the other three sensors, respectively.




Ymax  Xmax

MME ¼



100 ð%Þ

(4)
Ymax
It was found that MAE ranged from 0.00% to 3.33%, R2 from
0.994 to 0.999, NRMSE from 0.12% to 5.76%, and MME from 0.00%
to 2.16% for VDMS, MAE ranged from 0.03% to 7.62%, R2 from
0.991 to 1.000, NRMSE from 0.08% to 3.63%, and MME from 0.00%
to 4.26% for pole-type LVDT, and MAE ranged from 0.00% to 7.61%,
R2 from 0.992 to 1.000, NRMSE from 0.25% to 3.26%, and MME
from 0.01% to 3.74% for wire-type LVDT. Error results of the VDMS
and pole-type LVDT are graphically presented in Figs. 7 and 8,
respectively, while those of wire-type LVDT is omitted due to rela-
tively trendless errors. As a result of the error analysis through
comparison with LDS, it was judged that the accuracy of the dynamic
displacement measurement by the VDMS technique is affected by the
frequency of the measurement object. Although the error due to the
change in peak displacement at the same frequency was insignificant,
the error for the same generated displacement increased as the fre-
quency increased. In other words, when input frequency was high
(when the velocity between the model structure and the camcorder is
high), it is observed that the error rate of VDMS was high. The sensor Fig. 9. Measured displacement time history three-story model structure with
type of camcorder is CMOS, and it is judged that the phenomenon 4.5 mm thick columns subjected to white noise ground motion.
that the image is distorted toward the moving direction is occurred
due to the structural problem that cannot digitize simultaneously (the 5. System identification of mdof model structures
rolling shutter effect) Yoon et al, (2016a,b), Liang et al, (2008)).
In the case of the pole-type LVDT, the error tended to increase 5.1. Measured results
when the frequency was high and the generated displacement was
small, so it can be judged that there is a limit to the measurement of Fig. 9 shows the measured displacement time history of the roof
small dynamic displacements from vibrations. floor of the three-story model structure with a column thickness of
4.5 mm subjected to white noise ground motion. It can be noticed
that the measured displacement by the VDMS showed results with

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H. Kim, S. Shin Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

Fig. 10. FRF of ground to roof floor data: mode structures with 4.5 mm thick columns.

Table 2
Identified mode frequency (Hz).
Column thickness (mm) Number of story Mode Accelerometer LDS VDMS

1.5 1 1st 1.462 1.434 (1.92%) 1.463 (0.07%)

2 1st 0.756 0.732 (3.12%) 0.761 (0.66%)
2nd 2.243 2.258 (0.67%) 2.224 (0.85%)
3 1st 0.454 0.427 (5.82%) 0.439 (3.22%)
2nd 1.411 1.434 (1.63%) 1.434 (1.63%)
3rd 2.218 2.228 (0.45%) 2.195 (1.04%)
2.0 1 1st 1.890 1.892 (0.11%) 1.873 (0.90%)
2 1st 1.084 1.099 (1.38%) 1.054 (2.77%)
2nd 2.974 2.991 (0.57%) 2.985 (1.38%)
3 1st 0.706 0.702 (0.52%) 0.702 (0.45%)
2nd 2.218 2.197 (0.95%) 2.195 (1.04%)
3rd 3.377 3.357 (0.59%) 3.366 (0.33%)
3.0 1 1st 3.352 3.357 (0.15%) 3.366 (0.42%)
2 1st 1.966 1.984 (0.92%) 1.990 (1.22%)
2nd 5.141 5.157 (0.31%) 5.180 (0.76%)
3 1st 1.361 1.343 (1.32%) 1.405 (3.23%)
2nd 3.881 3.876 (0.13%) 3.863 (0.46%)
3rd 5.645 5.646 (0.02%) 5.619 (0.46%)
4.5 1 1st 4.965 4.974 (0.18%) 4.975 (0.20%)
2 1st 3.024 3.052 (0.93%) 3.044 (0.66%)
2nd 8.367 8.423 (0.67%) 8.429 (0.74%)
3 1st 2.218 2.197 (0.95%) 2.224 (0.27%)
2nd 6.452 6.409 (0.67%) 6.439 (0.20%)
3rd 9.375 9.399 (0.26%) 9.424 (0.52%)
6.0 1 1st 8.115 8.057 (0.71%) 8.078 (0.46%)
2 1st 4.435 4.456 (0.47%) 4.449 (0.32%)
2nd 12.150 12.080(–0.58%) 12.180 (0.25%)
3 1st 3.226 3.174 (1.61%) 3.219 (0.22%)
2nd 8.972 8.972 (0.00%) 8.897 (0.84%)
3rd 13.410 13.370(–0.30%) 13.350(–0.45%)

( ) is percentage difference compared with accelerometer data.

somewhat missing dynamic behavior compared to one by LDS. Such 5.2. Identification of dynamic characteristics
a result is judged to be effected from the rolling shutter effect at a
high speed motion as described in section 4.2. Using the displacement data measured in the white noise test, the

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H. Kim, S. Shin Journal of Wind Engineering & Industrial Aerodynamics 191 (2019) 22–31

Table 3 Table 4
Identified modal damping ratio (%). MAC values for identified mode shapes.
Column Number Mode Accelerometer LDS VDMS Mode LDS VDMS
thickness of story
1st 0.9997 0.9993
(mm)
2nd 0.9996 0.9997
1.5 1 1st 1.52 1.56 1.66 3rd 0.9998 0.9992
(2.18%) (8.91%)
2 1st 6.45 5.67 8.94
(12.08%) (38.57%) peak value of the imaginary part of the FRF.
2nd 1.02 2.15 2.47 The identified mode frequencies and modal damping ratios are
(110.82%) (142.76%)
3 1st 12.36 19.60 14.57
summarized in Tables 2 and 3. It can be noticed that the identified mode
(6.51%) (17.92%) frequencies were similar for all sensors. In particular, in the case of the
2nd 3.92 3.02 4.14 identified result through VDMS, the maximum difference was 3.23%
(22.84%) (5.69%) while the overall difference was less than 1% compared to the identi-
3rd 2.73 3.03 2.71
fied mode frequency through accelerometers. It is generally recom-
(10.95%) (0.76%)
2.0 1 1st 1.28 2.31 1.60 mended that the sampling frequency is 5–10 times the response
(84.48%) (25.76%) frequency to be measured, but it is theoretically possible that the re-
2 1st 1.85 4.16 2.02 sponses below the Nyquist frequency (half of the sampling frequency) are
(125.15%) (8.97%) accurately measured without aliasing. The Nyquist frequency of VDMS
2nd 1.38 2.40 1.18
(74.32%) (14.53%)
was about 30 Hz (the sampling frequency was 59.84 Hz), therefore the
3 1st 5.10 4.88 5.77 natural frequency of the 3rd order mode of the three-story structure with
(4.36%) (13.01%) a column thickness of 6 mm, which is the highest natural frequency, was
2nd 2.18 2.89 2.63 identified with a low error of 0.45% when comparing with the accel-
(32.73%) (20.69%)
erometer result. But, in case of the images from the digital camera, it can
3rd 1.67 1.59 1.94
(4.68%) (16.40%) be already aliased even below the Nyquist frequency due to the aliasing
3.0 1 1st 0.65 0.60 1.48 of digitized images. Therefore, it is necessary to be cautious when the
(7.48%) (127.72%) images are acquired from digital camera.
2 1st 2.49 2.34 2.45 The identification of the modal damping ratio shows that the damp-
(5.87%) (1.51%)
2nd 1.34 1.60 1.48
ing ratio tends to increase as the rigidity of the model structure increases
(19.38%) (10.42%) according to the thickness of the column. However, the reference iden-
3 1st 3.20 3.19 4.37 tification error of the accelerometer appeared larger than the estimation
(0.29%) (36.80%) result of the natural frequency and the error range of 14.95 ~
2nd 0.97 1.53 1.35
þ142.76% was shown in the case of the identification result from VDMS.
(58.18%) (39.61%)
3rd 0.95 1.00 0.88 However, in consideration of the error range of 68.93 ~ þ125.15% in
(5.98%) (7.07%) the case of the estimation result using LDS measurements, it is judged
4.5 1 1st 1.21 1.27 1.77 that the modal damping ratio identification result using VDMS is suffi-
(4.98%) (45.90%) ciently accurate.
2 1st 3.33 2.41 2.84
(27.66%) (14.95%)
As shown in Tables 2 and 3, the system identification results from
2nd 0.96 0.56 1.09 VDMS data showed high accuracy despite the imperfections of
(41.70%) (12.93%) displacement measurement in fast motion of the object (the rolling
3 1st 3.57 3.05 3.50 shutter effect). It is judged that the dynamic characteristics due to the
(14.41%) (1.91%)
overall behavior of the object are mainly reflected rather than the
2nd 1.33 1.05 1.40
(21.00%) (5.64%) distortion in the sudden movement due to the rolling shutter effect.
3rd 0.87 1.02 0.88 The results identified mode shapes were compared through the modal
(17.72%) (0.89%) assurance criterion (MAC) value based on the accelerometer result.
6.0 1 1st 1.33 0.45 1.26
(66.09%) (4.89%)
n oT n o
2

ðiÞ

2 1st 1.25 0.94 1.66
ðiÞ

ψA ψ ðiÞ
B

(25.07%) (32.02%) MACAB ¼ n oT n on oT n o (5)
2nd 0.54 0.88 0.72 ψ ðiÞ
A ψ ðiÞ
A ψ ðiÞ
B ψ ðiÞ
B
(63.30%) (32.35%)
3 1st 3.60 3.88 3.42
ðiÞ ðiÞ
(7.57%) (4.99%) where fψ A g and fψ B g are the ith mode shape by accelerometers and the
2nd 1.40 0.44 1.29 other two measurement sensors, respectively.
(68.93%) (7.75%)
Table 4 shows the average MAC value of the mode shape estimation
3rd 0.67 0.73 0.74
(8.24%) (10.28%)
via the LDS and VDMS measurements. The minimum result was 0.9996
through LDS measurements and the identification result through VDMS
( ) is percentage difference compared with accelerometer data. had a minimum MAC value of 0.9992, showing high similarity.

dynamic characteristics of the 15 model structures were identified. The 6. Conclusions

identification of the dynamic characteristics and the comparison of the
results were performed for the mode frequencies, modal damping ratios,
and mode shapes. A frequency response function (FRF) was calculated
from the measured data of the three sensors for identifying the dynamic
characteristics as shown in Fig. 10, and the mode frequencies of the 15
cases were estimated from the calculated FRFs. The modal damping ratio
was estimated by the half-power bandwidth method using the width of
the calculated FRF peak, and the mode shape was estimated from the
In order to validate the wide range reliability of the dynamic
displacement measurement of a VDMS, dynamic experiments of various
amplitudes with a broad band of frequencies were carried out using a
shaking table. Using sine wave excitations of inversed T jig with an
attached target that represents the displacement of the shaking table,
images were recorded and analyzed. The dynamic displacement obtained

30
H. Kim, S. Shin
by image analysis was compared with the dynamic displacement ob-
tained by the conventional contact/non-contact sensors: LVDTs (wire-
and pole-type) and an LDS.
Dynamic displacement measurement results of all types of measure-
ment sensors showed roughly similar results in the point of maximum
displacement arrival of periodic motion. Specifically, the measurement
results obtained via the VDMS and LDS showed excellent agreement.
However, in the case of the measurement results obtained through the
LVDTs which are contact-type sensors, the results did not capture the
dynamic behavior occurring in the peak portion where the displacement
direction changes.
As a result of error analysis through comparison with LDS, it was
observed that the accuracy of dynamic displacement measurement by the
VDMS technique is affected by the frequency of the measurement object.
From these results, it is judged that the CMOS sensor type has the rolling
shutter effect when the velocity between the model structure and the
camcorder is high. In the case of LVDTs, the error tended to increase
when the frequency was high and the generated displacement small, so it
is judged that there is a limit to the measurement of small dynamic dis-
placements from vibrations.
In addition, based on the verification of the reliability of the VDMS,
the dynamic characteristics of MDOF model structures were identified.
The experiment was conducted by attaching a target showing each the
displacement of each floor of the structure, including the shaking table.
The identification accuracy was determined by comparing the dynamic
characteristics estimated using the LDS and the accelerometer.
The identification of the dynamic characteristics and the comparison
of the results in the mode frequency, modal damping ratio, and the mode
shape were performed. FRFs were calculated from the measurement data
of three sensors for identifying the dynamic characteristics, and the mode
frequency, modal damping ration, and mode shapes of the 15 cases was
estimated from the calculated FRFs. It was found that the identification of
the mode frequency, modal damping ratio, and mode shapes by VDMS
using the camcorder show excellent agreement with those using accel-
erometers. The system identification results from VDMS data showed
high accuracy despite the imperfections of displacement measurement in
fast motion of the object (the rolling shutter effect). It is judged that the
dynamic characteristics due to the overall behavior of the object are
mainly reflected rather than the distortion in the sudden movement due
to the rolling shutter effect.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant (17CTAP-C129825) from the
Technology Advancement Research Program (TARP) funded by the
Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the Korean government.
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