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Risk assessment: A comparison between the use of laser scanners and total
stations in a situation where time is the critical factor

Conference Paper · June 2013

DOI: 10.5593/SGEM2013/BB2.V2/S10.019

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Published as: Deruyter, G., Van Quickelberghe, A., Nuttens, T., Stal, C., & De Wulf, A. (2013). Risk
assessment: a comparison between the use of laser scanners and total stations in a situation where
time is the critical factor. International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference-SGEM (pp. 687–694).
Presented at the 13th International multidisciplinary scientific Geoconference SGEM (SGEM 2013),
Sofia, Bulgaria: International Scientific Conference SGEM.

RISK ASSESSMENT: A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE USE OF LASER SCANNERS AND TOTAL
STATIONS IN A SITUATION WHERE TIME IS THE CRITICAL FACTOR

Prof. dr. ing. Greta Deruyter1,2,3, ing. Anthony Van Quickelberghe3, MSc. Timothy Nuttens2, MSc.
Cornelis Stal2, Prof. dr. ir. Alain De Wulf2
1 Ghent University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Industrial Engineering, Belgium
2
Ghent University, Faculty of Sciences, Department of Geography, Belgium
3 University College Ghent, Faculty of Applied Engineering Sciences, Belgium

Abstract
For some time past, terrestrial laser scanning has been adopted as one of the data acquisition
techniques for e.g. deformation measurements, documentation of historical monuments and civil
engineering projects. Using terrestrial laser scanning, millions of 3D points can be obtained with a high
accuracy in a time span of minutes or even seconds depending on the type of laser scanner. However,
processing the data still remains a time consuming process. As a result, total station measurements are
often preferred over laser scanning for high frequency deformation measurements when time for data
processing is limited.

In the research at hand, the applicability of terrestrial laser scanning in time critical situations was
assessed based on the case of a recent monitoring project on a sewage purification plant. Deformations
had to be assessed twice a day in order to prevent accidents from happening. The total station
measurements were executed and processed by a specialized company (Teccon bvba, Belgium). At
the same time, terrestrial laser scanning was used by researchers of University College Ghent and
Ghent University to acquire deformation data. The data obtained by laser scanning was processed
independently and then georeferenced to the same coordinate system as used for the total station
measurements to enable comparison of the resulting deformations. In order to be able to meet the time
requirements, a “quick and dirty” method was developed to process the laser scan data. This method
implied no cleaning up of the point clouds and only primitive modeling of parts of the structure.

Although a complete 3D model of the whole structure could not be generated in the limited time frame
between two scans, the objective, namely an accurate assessment of deformations almost in real time,
was accomplished. Furthermore, the degree of detail that can be reached through the use of laser
scanning surpasses the possibilities of total stations. Moreover, even with a “quick and dirty method”,
visualization is much more comprehensive than can be obtained by using a total station.

Keywords: terrestrial laser scanning, risk assessment, deformation measurements, monitoring, total
station, visualization

INTRODUCTION
Terrestrial laser scanning is a technique that allows the acquisition of 3D coordinates of 50 000 up to 1
000 000 points per second, depending on the type of laser scanner: triangulation, pulse-based or phase-
based. This high scanning speed results in highly accurate and dense point clouds of the structure in a
limited time frame, even over large distances [1-3]. Point clouds acquired from multiple scanning
positions can be registered based on corresponding reference points between these scanning positions,
so a complete coverage of the structure or object is possible.

Although laser scanning is already used for deformation measurements for some time [4-10] the time
consuming data processing is still considered as an obstacle for real time deformation measurements
[11]. As a result, for high frequency deformation measurements which by default do not leave a lot of
time for data processing, total station measurements are often preferred over laser scanning. However,
a disadvantage of total station measurements is the limited amount of points that can be measured in a
short time span [4].

The research at hand intended to answer two important questions in deformations measurements:

1. Can laser scanning be an alternative for the use of total stations in time critical situations?
2. How accurate are deformation measurements based on laser scan point clouds?

METHODOLOGY AND RESULTS

To answer the questions above, two case studies were carried out. The first case consists of deformation
measurements in a sewage purification plant. The second case was built on deformation measurements
in a laboratory.

CASE 1: DEFORMATION MEASUREMENTS IN A SEWAGE PURIFICATION PLANT

In the weekend of 15/10/2012, one of the separation walls of a reservoir in a sewage purification plant
in Antwerp (Belgium), collapsed, causing great material damage (Figure 1). Luckily there were no human
casualties.

As a result of the damages, an adjacent reservoir had to be emptied which caused additional stress on
a separating wall between two sewage water reservoirs. Since the water level dropped approximately 1
meter a day on one side of separating wall, the water pressure on the other side could cause
deformations. In order to prevent accidents from happening, the possible deformations in the separating
wall had to be assessed twice a day. As the time frame was short, a total station was used for the data
acquisition. These total station measurements were executed and processed by a specialized company
(Teccon bvba, Belgium).

At the same time, terrestrial laser scanning was used by researchers of University College Ghent and
Ghent University to acquire deformation data. The laser scanner was a Leica C10 ScanStation, which
is a pulse-based scanner with a scanning speed of up to 50 000 points per second. To be able to register
the point clouds of the two sides of the wall, magnetic 6” circular blue tilt and turn were used. Additional
3” target stickers were used for the georeferencing of the point clouds in the coordinate system used for
the total station measurements. The scan resolution was 4 mm at a distance of 11 m. The closest point
of the wall was about 10 m away from the scanner (Figure 2).

Figure 1: Photo of the damages in the sewage purification plant in Antwerp, Belgium
 Figure 2: Target configuration on day one. (T=target 6”, TK=target 3” and SP=scan position)

For the comparison of the two techniques two measuring campaigns were selected with an interval (for
practical reasons) of 5 days. The front and backside of the wall were scanned while almost
simultaneously the coordinates of nine marked points on the front side were acquired by means of a
total station.

In every measurement campaign the 3D coordinates of all marked points were measured twice, resulting
in averaged coordinates. After the second day the differences between the average positions were
calculated and resulted in a displacement in X, in Y and in Z.

The first step of the research was to develop a fast and accurate workflow for processing the point
clouds. Four of the methods for modelling point clouds, offered by the software (Leica Cyclone 8.0),
were tested in order to determine the most efficient one. The different point clouds, obtained by laser
scanning, were processed independently and then georeferenced in the same coordinate system of the
total station measurements. Thereafter, the points measured by means of the total station were inserted
in the point cloud. They were used to determine the position of the cross-sections. Then, a new
coordinate system was defined, coinciding with the wall. The XY-plane plane is parallel to the upper side
of the wall. The X-axis is in alignment with the longest side of the wall. The Y-axis is the direction in
which the deformations will occur. The same coordinate system is used for the point cloud of day one
and the point cloud of day two. To select the most efficient method, first, a fraction of the point cloud in
the neighbourhood of each of the nine marked points was isolated from the point cloud and replaced by
a modelled surface. This basic modelling was done in four different ways: meshing, patching, smoothed
meshing and smoothed patching [10].

Figure 3: Cross-sections taken at the same location for the four modelling types

Secondly, cross-sections of the four surfaces types (figure 3) were taken at the location of each marked
point. After creating the 72 cross-sections, four for day one and four for day two for all nine marked
points, they were exported to a CAD software. For each cross-section a horizontal line, starting in the
marked point was drawn. The coordinates of the intersection (between the horizontal line and the cross-
sections) points were then exported to a spreadsheet for further processing. For each couple of
intersection points (day one and day two per modelling method and per marked point), the displacement
was calculated between the first and the second measuring campaign (Figure 4).

Finally, for each of the nine sections, the differences between the displacements obtained by laser
scanning and the displacements obtained by means of the total station were calculated for all four
models (Table 1). After calculating the mean of the differences between the two displacements for each
modelling method, the method producing the smallest mean and standard deviation was chosen.

Based on Table 1, the smoothed patch method was selected as most efficient. The time needed to
process one section was 12 minutes, which implies a frequency of reporting the nine deformations in
less than two hours. As the total time needed to scan the two sides of the wall was of the same order
(less than two hours), this reporting frequency comes close to real time monitoring.

Figure 4: Displacement between two cross-sections on different moments. (AutoCad 2013)

Table 1: Statistical characteristics of the differences between the displacements measured by means
of a total station and as a result of laser scanning for each of the four modelling methods.

Table 2 demonstrates that except for one of the marked points, the differences between the resulting
deformations is less than 5 mm. An explanation can be found in the fact that the targets used to
georeference the point clouds in the reference system used by the total station were given at centimetre-
level.

This leads to the conclusion that laser scanning is a worthy alternative for total station measurements.
Moreover, by using laser scanning, a much higher level of detail can be obtained and there is almost no
limit to the number of cross-sections that can be produced. This can prove to be interesting in case
deformations occur at unexpected locations.

Table 2: Comparison between the displacements measured with a total station (courtesy of Teccon
bvba) and the displacement as a result of laser scanning in combination with the smoothed path
modelling (Leica Cyclone 8.0).

CASE 2: DEFORMATION MEASUREMENTS IN A LABORATORY

Based on the previous case study, it was not possible to establish the precision of the chosen method
(second question). To establish the accuracy of deformations using the method described in the
previous section, a data set with a higher accuracy has to be available. This was accomplished by using
micrometre dials (Figure 5) in a test environment set up in a laboratory at University College Ghent.

In this laboratory concrete beams were dynamically tested until they collapsed. At given intervals the
displacement was measured with digital micrometre dials and an accuracy of 0.01mm. At the same time,
the beam was scanned with a laser scanner and the displacement was determined using the method
described in the previous section. By comparing these displacements to the ones established with the
micrometer dials, the accuracy of the method was assessed. Besides, the time needed to process the
data can be recorded to determine whether “near real time” deformation measuring is possible.

During the data acquisition the scanner was not moved. Therefore, it was not necessary to use targets
for registration purposes. The data acquisition could be automated, since every time the same scan
window was used. Also, because every point cloud is in the same local coordinate system, the data
processing was simplified. Before the concrete beam was loaded, it was scanned in rest position as a
reference. The scan resolution was 1 mm horizontal and vertical at a distance of 2.5 m. The interval
between two scans depends on the time needed for data processing. The cross-sections were taken at
the position of the micrometer gauges and resulted in an X, Y and Z-coordinate. As the concrete beam
only moves in the vertical direction, the comparison between the displacements determined by using
the laser scanner and the ones coming from the micrometer gauges are only performed in de Z-direction.
The point clouds are available in real time on a laptop connected to the scanner by a network cable.
The displacements between the null position and every new scan were compared with the
displacements determined with the micrometre dial.

Again the average of the differences between the displacements, based on the two devices (scanner
and micrometer gauge), and the statistical characteristics of this average were calculated. The results
presented in Table 3 are based on 75 measurements.

Figure 5: Laboratory test: deformation measurement with electronic micrometer gauges of a

dynamically loaded concrete beam.\

Table 3: Statistical characteristics of the differences between the displacements measured by means
of a micrometer gauge and the displacements as a result of laser scanning

Based on the values for kurtosis and skewness, the values for the differences between the
displacements are considered a normal distribution. The standard deviation is 0.26 mm which means
that about 99.7 % of the values are within 0.78 mm away from the mean or in other words about 99.7 %
of the displacements measured with the laser scanner are within 0.88 mm away from the displacement
measured with a micrometer gauge.

The data acquisition process took about 10 minutes while the processing time took less than 15 minutes.
This means that every 15 minutes new values for the deformations in three sections were available. Of
course, if more sections are needed, data processing will take longer at a rate of approximately four
minutes per extra section.
 CONCLUSION
As the distance between the laser scanner and the concrete beam was short and the scan window was
very small, the data acquisition only took about 10 minutes. In real life situations, the object size to be
monitored and thus also the scanning window will be bigger, which implies a longer data acquisition
time frame. However the time needed for data processing was barely affected by this time frame.

Although a complete 3D model of the whole structure could not be generated in the limited time frame
between two scans, the objective, namely an accurate assessment of deformations almost in real time,
was accomplished. Furthermore, the degree of detail that can be reached through the use of laser
scanning surpasses the possibilities of total stations. Moreover, even with a “quick and dirty method”,
visualization is much more comprehensive than can be obtained by using a total station.

ACKOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to thank Teccon bvba for making available their method and results for the case
study of the sewage purification plant.

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