Variable-box segmentation of a three-dimensional point cloud for automatic estimation of discontinuities in rock mass

Matsukawa, Shun*; Itakura, Kenichi*; Hayano, Akira  ; Suzuki, Yukinori*

LIDAR detects a rock mass surface configurations as a point cloud. DiAna (Discontinuity Analysis) is a Matlab tool which was developed for geo-structural analysis of rock mass discontinuities. DiAna segments a point cloud into bounding boxes to estimate the surface of a rock mass. However, an expert's skills necessary to determine the appropriate size of the bounding boxes for DiAna. We developed the VBS (Variable-Box Segmentation) algorithm to determine the appropriate box size depending on the location of the point cloud and to estimate the surface of a rock mass. The performance of the VBS algorithms was evaluated by comparison with the DiAna algorithm. The results of comparison showed that the VBS algorithm estimated planes more accurately for the reference planes than the DiAna algorithm. Therefore, the VBS algorithm determines appropriate box sizes automatically depending on the location of the point cloud and estimates the surface appropriately.