Automated point clouds processing for deformation monitoring

Abstract

The weather conditions and the operation load are causing changes in the spatial position and in the shape of engineering constructions, which affects their static and dynamic function and reliability. Because these facts, geodetic measurements are integral parts of engineering structures diagnosis. The advantage of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) over conventional surveying methods is the efficiency of spatial data acquisition. TLS allows contactless determining the spatial coordinates of points lying on the surface on the measured object. The scan rate of current scanners (up to 1 million of points/s) allows significant reduction of time, necessary for the measurement; respectively increase the quantity of obtained information about the measured object. To increase the accuracy of results, chosen parts of the monitored construction can be approximated by single geometric entities using regression. In this case the position of measured point is calculated from tens or hundreds of scanned points. This paper presents the possibility of deformation monitoring of engineering structures using the technology of TLS. For automated data processing was developed an application based on Matlab®, Displacement_TLS. The operation mode, the basic parts of this application and the calculation of displacements are described.