Wire mesh filtering in 3D image data of rock faces

The presence of wire mesh partially obscures rock faces imaged using terrestrial laser scanners. The objective of the methodology presented in this paper is to remove the wire mesh from point cloud data, leaving rock face data suitable for joint orientation and surface roughness analysis. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is first performed to segregate data belonging to the wire mesh from legitimate rock face data. Two iterative filters are then applied. The baseline filter relies on an estimation of the instrument noise and surface roughness. Rockbolt face plates are used to measure the instrument noise in situ. A second derivative filter based on a central finite difference approximation is used to identify the boundary between rock face and wire mesh data. This filtering methodology was successful in removing wire mesh and associated edge effects from point cloud data allowing for joint orientation and surface roughness assessment, the latter of which was found to be more sensitive to the presence of the wire mesh.

[1]  R. Hack,et al.  Method for Automated Discontinuity Analysis of Rock Slopes with Three-Dimensional Laser Scanning , 2005 .

[2]  D. J. Hutchinson,et al.  Bias Correction for View-limited Lidar Scanning of Rock Outcrops for Structural Characterization , 2010 .

[3]  Erik Eberhardt,et al.  The use of LiDAR to overcome rock slope hazard data collection challenges at Afternoon Creek, Washington , 2006 .

[4]  Mariusz MŁynarczuk,et al.  Description and classification of rock surfaces by means of laser profilometry and mathematical morphology , 2010 .

[5]  R. Inkpen,et al.  Towards a protocol for laser scanning of rock surfaces , 2010 .

[6]  François Blais.  Review of 20 years of range sensor development , 2004, J. Electronic Imaging.

[7]  Peter P. Flaig,et al.  Lidar intensity as a remote sensor of rock properties , 2011 .

[8]  Francois Blais,et al.  Neptec 3D Laser Camera System: from space mission STS-105 to terrestrial applications , 2002 .

[9]  Jerry P. Fairley,et al.  Estimating surface roughness of terrestrial laser scan data using orthogonal distance regression , 2011 .

[10]  S. Buckley,et al.  Terrestrial laser scanning in geology: data acquisition, processing and accuracy considerations , 2008, Journal of the Geological Society.

[11]  Nicola Casagli,et al.  Semi-automatic extraction of rock mass structural data from high resolution LIDAR point clouds , 2011 .

[12]  G. Grasselli,et al.  A new 2D discontinuity roughness parameter and its correlation with JRC , 2010 .

[13]  Gianfranco Forlani,et al.  Advanced Geostructural Survey Methods Applied to Rock Mass Characterization , 2009 .

[14]  Denis Thibodeau,et al.  3D laser imaging for surface roughness analysis , 2013 .

[15]  O. Fernández,et al.  Obtaining a best fitting plane through 3D georeferenced data , 2005 .

[16]  M. Menenti,et al.  Influence of range measurement noise on roughness characterization of rock surfaces using terrestrial laser scanning , 2011 .

[17]  N. Barton,et al.  The shear strength of rock joints in theory and practice , 1977 .

[18]  S. Slob,et al.  AN APPROACH TO AUTOMATE DISCONTINUITY MEASUREMENTS OF ROCK FACES USING LASER SCANNING TECHNIQUES , 2002 .

[19]  Robert Hack,et al.  Deriving roughness characteristics of rock mass discontinuities from terrestrial laser scan data , 2006 .

[20]  Claire Samson,et al.  Triangulation-based 3D laser imaging for underground rock mass characterization: Impact of operational parameters , 2008 .

[21]  M. Lato,et al.  Automated mapping of rock discontinuities in 3D lidar and photogrammetry models , 2012 .

[22]  Giovanni Grasselli,et al.  A method to evaluate the three-dimensional roughness of fracture surfaces in brittle geomaterials. , 2009, The Review of scientific instruments.

[23]  Mark S. Diederichs,et al.  Optimization of LiDAR scanning and processing for automated structural evaluation of discontinuities in rockmasses , 2009 .

[24]  Kourosh Khoshelham,et al.  Evaluation of a LIDAR Land-Based Mobile Mapping System for Monitoring Sandy Coasts , 2010, Remote. Sens..

[25]  Alexandre Brouste,et al.  Characterization of Fault Roughness at Various Scales: Implications of Three-Dimensional High Resolution Topography Measurements , 2008, 0810.1109.

[26]  Nick Barton,et al.  Review of a new shear-strength criterion for rock joints , 1973 .

[27]  Mostafa Sharifzadeh,et al.  Analysis of Aperture Evolution in a Rock Joint Using a Complex Network Approach , 2008, ArXiv.

[28]  Stephen D. McKinnon,et al.  3D laser imaging for joint orientation analysis , 2011 .

[29]  Francois Blais,et al.  The Neptec Three-Dimensional Laser Camera System: From Space Mission STS-105 to Terrestrial Applications , 2004 .

[30]  Matthew J. Lato,et al.  Rock bench: Establishing a common repository and standards for assessing rockmass characteristics using LiDAR and photogrammetry , 2013, Comput. Geosci..

[31]  Ove Stephansson,et al.  Application of a new in situ 3D laser scanner to study the scale effect on the rock joint surface roughness , 2004 .