Renovating complex structures with 3D laser scanning

The project engineer at a wastewater treatment plant in Tampa/Florida was faced with a challenging renovation – demolishing one of their pump houses and replacing the piping in the plant’s digesters. While existing two-dimensional drawings documented the pipes, they did not include the level of detail necessary to plan the reconstruction in a way that guaranteed the new installations would not clash with existing structures.

The project engineer and his team required a thorough understanding of the labyrinth of pipes that wound around each other, changed elevations, and wove in and out of assorted plant structures. To assess the water tank’s capacity, they needed measurements inside the tank that included a representation of the fill line to the highest part of the tank, as well as the point where water exits the tower. Finally, they wanted an overall site plan showing building footprints and their relationship to each other. This documentation would help them to understand the dynamics of the water flow, determine digester capacity, establish their connection points in the water tower and make informed decisions regarding the plant’s restoration.

Point clouds, 3D visualisations and models provide valuable insight on a complex network of pipes and valves.

To complete the documentation manually would not only be complex, but it could also be dangerous. First, because the water tower was 53 metres (175 feet) tall, it was difficult to access. In addition, there was the ever-present risk of falling and drowning when taking manual measurements of wastewater digesters, open vats that are used to stabilise the solids removed from the wastewater during treatment.

由于复杂性以及植物周围操纵的物流，手动文档也将很耗时，例如，在某些地方，谈判狭窄到约41厘米（16英寸）的时装秀。大约两个星期大约需要一支由四名工程师组成的团队进行测量，他们仍然只能收集最少的数据。

From difficult and dangerous to simple and safe with laser scanning
项目工程师意识到激光扫描可能是解决他们问题的方法。在寻找服务提供商之后，他联系了TruePoint Laser扫描总裁Ryan Hacker。由于激光扫描仪有条不紊，快速捕获代表其范围内所有对象的数据点，因此它们可以轻松捕获复杂的管道和植物布局。此外，由于真正的点激光扫描团队选择使用Leica ScanStation C10，因此他们能够在300米（980英尺）范围内准确记录建筑物和结构，同时在一秒钟内捕获数千个数据点。这种远程功能意味着技术人员可以安全地从时装秀上扫描消化厂的内墙，并从地面上记录水塔，从而消除了对人升降机和驱逐设备的需求。

两名Truepoint技术人员确定他们需要在36个位置进行扫描。激光扫描捕获了视线的所有内容。但是，为了确保彻底的文档，他们从多个角度进行了扫描。每次扫描都代表了TruePoint Associates后来将其拼凑在一起的难题的片段。尽管项目工程师最初计划了一个基于多个项目的项目，以便在更换特定管道和阀门的同时继续操作，但TruePoint能够在一天之内完成数据收集。快速过程还通过减少对几个文档项目的需求节省了资金。此外，由于所有数据都可以立即获得，工程师可以制定完整的计划，以减少对未来变更订单的需求。扫描产生了一系列点云，三二维数据集代表该设施的扫描对象。回到Truepoint的总部，随着团队将多点云导入Leica Cyclone软件，工作流程逐渐降低了节奏。然后，为了完整地查看他们组装拼图的植物，记录了点云，并将它们连接到单个数据集中。 They sent the 3D representation to the engineers at the water treatment plant who also use Leica Cyclone software. The engineers imported the point clouds into their Autodesk AutoCAD software to create a model. In addition, TruePoint provided Leica TruViews that give a panoramic 3D view of the scanned area. The TruViews are intuitive for people to use; they can easily zoom in to see points of interest and look at them from all angles.

进行测量并分析办公室的数据
The engineers were able to scrutinise the data from the comfort of their offices and calculate factors such as the necessary rise over run for the pipes, water flow, and specific measurements. Having all the data at their fingertips enabled them to give a fabricator the exact size and shape of the new pipes they needed. Once they received the pipes, all they had to do on the site was to assemble them; thus, they saved money on manual labour time. As a result, the engineers at the water treatment plant were able to plan their renovations more accurately and comprehensively, increase safety, reduce costs and achieve their goals more quickly. Due to the success of this project, the project manager has now incorporated laser scanning into additional projects.

Written by Bruce Bowditch