Abellán, A., Oppikofer, T., Jaboyedoff, M., Rosser, N. J., Lim, M. and Lato, M. J. (2014), Terrestrial laser scanning of rock slope instabilities. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms. DOI: 10.1002/esp.3493
This manuscript presents a review on the application of a remote sensing technique (terrestrial laser scanning, TLS) to a rock slope characterization and monitoring. Key insights into the use of TLS in rock slope investigations include: (a) the capability of remotely obtaining the orientation of slope discontinuities, which constitutes a great step forward in rock mechanics; (b) the possibility to monitor rock slopes which allows not only the accurate quantification of rockfall rates across wide areas but also the spatio-temporal modelling of rock slope deformation with an unprecedented level of detail.
Further investigation on the development of new algorithms for point cloud filtering, segmentation, feature extraction, deformation tracking and change detection will significantly improve our understanding on how rock slopes behave and evolve.
Perspectives include the use of new 3D sensing devices and the adaptation of techniques and methods recently developed in other disciplines as robotics and 3D computer-vision to rock slope instabilities research.
More information and full paper on the ESPL website.
