3D Laser Scanning Technology Benefits Pipeline Design
The World Isn’t Flat
By Michael Garvey, EN Engineering, LLC
Figure 1.
The prolific Greek mathematician and geographer Eratosthenes came to understand that the world wasn’t flat when he calculated the circumference of the earth in the third century BC. Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan – 1,800 years later - again reminded us that the earth was not flat when his fleet successfully circumnavigated the globe in 1522 AD. Awareness that the earth is not flat has existed for centuries, yet we continue to constrain our engineering design efforts to two dimensions.
The world consists of three dimensions and we have reached a point where engineering, design and planning should follow suit. 3D Laser Scanning provides a highly accessible tool that now enables engineers and designers to think, design and evaluate intuitively in a three-dimensional world with even greater ease. This article will explore the application and benefits of 3D Laser Scanning technology with gas and oil pipelines.
See Figure 1: Laser Scanning in Operation. 3D Laser Scanning provides a tool that enables engineers and designers to think, design and evaluate in a three dimensional world with even greater ease.
What Is 3D Laser Scanning?
3D Laser Scanning is a terrestrial-based data acquisition system that captures high-density 3D geospatial data from large-scale, complex entities. Laser scanners are non-contact devices that incorporate two components for data capture: a laser and a camera as shown in Figure 1. A Class 3R1 laser scans all physical components in its field of view and assigns an XYZ coordinate to each captured point. The laser records the relative position of everything in view, capturing nearly 1 million data points per second1.
3D Laser Scanning is a terrestrial-based data acquisition system that captures high-density 3D geospatial data from large-scale, complex entities. Laser scanners are non-contact devices that incorporate two components for data capture: a laser and a camera as shown in Figure 1. A Class 3R1 laser scans all physical components in its field of view and assigns an XYZ coordinate to each captured point. The laser records the relative position of everything in view, capturing nearly 1 million data points per second1.
The data appears as a “point cloud” which accurately represents the surface of the physical objects scanned as seen in Figure 2.0. The laser captures exact size and shape and converts real world objects into 3D digital representation for storage and manipulation on a computer. The system utilized in subsequent examples, the FARO Focus3D, is extremely accurate, capturing data at ±1.0 mm1 accuracy with a range of up to 120 m1. The scanner can capture a horizontal field of view of 360° with a vertical field of view of 315°, ensuring an almost all-encompassing analysis from a single scan.
Figure 2 - Laser Scanning Produces a “Point Cloud.” The laser records the distance and texture of everything in view. The data appears as a “point cloud” which accurately represents the surface of the physical objects. The laser captures exact size and shape and converts real world objects into 3-D digital representation for storage and manipulation on a computer.
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