SEMI-AUTOMATIC ROCK MASS GEOMETRY ANALYSIS FROM A DENSE 3D POINT CLOUD WITH DISCONTINUITYLAB

Abstract. 2D and 3D imageries can allow the optimization of rock mass exploitation (quarries, roads, rail networks, open pit, potentially tunnels and underground mines networks). The increasingly common use of photogrammetry makes it possible to obtain georeferenced 3D point clouds that are useful for understanding the rock mass. Indeed, new structural analysis solutions have been proposed since the advent of the 3D technologies. These methods are essentially focused on the production of digital stereonet. Production of additional information from 3D point clouds are possible to better define the structure of the rock mass, in particular the quantification of the discontinuities density. The aim of this paper is to test and validate a new method that provides statistics on the distances between the discontinuity planes. This solution is based on exploiting the information previously extracted from the segmentation of the discontinuity planes of a point cloud and their classification in family. In this article, the proposed solution is applied on two multiscale examples, firstly to validate it with a virtual synthetic outcrop and secondly to test it on a real outcrop. To facilitate these analyses, a software called DiscontinuityLab has been developed and used for the treatments.