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Dight (ed)
2013 Australian Centre for Geomechanics, Perth, ISBN 978-0-9870937-5-2
Slope Stability 2013, Brisbane, Australia 763
J.G. Williams Department of Geography, Durham University, UK
N.J. Rosser Department of Geography, Durham University, UK
A. Afana Department of Geography, Durham University, UK; and 3D Laser Mapping Ltd, UK
G. Hunter 3D Laser Mapping Ltd, UK
R.J. Hardy Department of Geography, Durham University, UK
The reliable monitoring of slope deformation is a significant parameter for mitigating landslide damages,
including business disruption and danger to workers. Despite this, remote sensing of surface deformation
used to interpret failure mechanisms at the shear zone remains limited by factors such as the resolution and
viewing angle of monitoring. Here we present an analysis of data captured using a new generation of full
waveform terrestrial laser scanners (FW-TLS), which offers potential gains for near real-time rock slope
monitoring. This approach, having evolved from recent advances in airborne LiDAR, resolves the structure of
the reflected laser signal (the waveform) from which a series of attributes of the surface character,
geometry and deformation are extracted.
The influence of target geometry, analogous to a deforming rock face, on the reflected waveform is
interpreted from a set of controlled condition datasets. The analysis highlights the sensitivity of the
maximum amplitude, relative to other parameters of the waveform, to changes in target geometry. We
conclude by considering the implications for slope deformation monitoring of this new approach.
The temporal evolution of instability within rock masses, especially those of steep slopes excavated by
surface mining in open pits, has been characterised in a number of studies (for example, Zavodni, 2000;
Eberhardt et al., 2004; Kemeny, 2005). A simple observation is that slope failure is preceded by slope
deformation; however, the rate-dependency of this deformation has also been applied in final failure-time
predictions (both successfully and unsuccessfully) within a number of open pit mines. Zvelebil (1984), Suwa
(1991), Hungr and Kent (1995), and Rose and Hungr (2007) extrapolated surficial strain-rates to the point in
time where the reciprocal of strain-rate approaches zero, commonly termed the Saito method, in order to
predict final failure. Other studies have also monitored derivatives of strain accumulation in deforming
slopes, such as spallation (rockfalls) (Rosser et al., 2007), micro-seismic activity (Amitrano, 2005) and
tension crack opening.
Viewing deformation as a precursor to final failure underlines a clear need to monitor deforming slopes but
at present a priori analysis remains site-specific, costly and unreliable. Furthermore, there remains
uncertainty regarding the detailed mechanisms of failure development, and their manifestation as surface
strain. The reasons behind this include:
Spatial resolution of monitoring the scale of precursory deformation is often less than or beyond 1.
the spatial resolution of monitoring. Critical levels of pre-failure strain, believed to be necessary to
enable final catastrophic failure, have been shown to be only ~3% of the final shear surface length
Can full waveform technology enhance the use of terrestrial laser scanning to monitor J.G. Williams et al.
rock slope deformation?
764 Slope Stability 2013, Brisbane, Australia
(Petley et al., 2008) and can be accommodated along the entire rupture, generating low localised
strains.
Temporal resolution of monitoring patterns of non-linear and/or rapid deformation may fall 2.
below the frequency of monitoring.
Small, apparently random displacements unsuitable for the detection of larger scale 3.
deformation. Rose and Hungr (2007) noted that large rock slides rarely move as coherent mass,
rather small localised movements such as buckling and toppling may ensue. They suggested that,
though these are related to strain development, characterisation of localised superimposed
failures may not reflect wider-scale deformation.
Cyclical changes including wetting/drying of the slope and temperature/pressure variations 4.
which act across large open pits (Crosta and Agliardi, 2003). These have the potential to invoke
decimetre scale movements.
Stress triggering mechanisms may superimpose individual cycles on overall movement trends or 5.
instigate a transition from regressive (decelerating) to progressive (accelerating) movement (see
Zavodni, 2000). Examples of such mechanisms include excavation of failure surfaces and removal
of buttressing at the slope toe.
Instrument errors including data projection angles normal to direction of movement. Rosser 6.
et al. (2008) showed that inferred deformation of a slope inclined at 23 increased by nearly an
order of magnitude for every 5 deviation from viewing angles normal to the face.
A number of challenges thus arise. First, high resolution and precise monitoring of the entire slope is
required to examine deformation operating across a range of spatial and temporal scales, with some
related to trends in overall slope deformation and others to localised stress-triggering mechanisms. Second,
with regard to terrestrial laser scanning, deformation of the slope is based upon range measurements
relative to the scanner. The overall vector of movement in the majority of scenarios, however, is normal to
the direction of scanning, thus deformation becomes difficult to resolve. Akin to this is the quantification of
river discharge solely by monitoring changes to the water surface height from an aerial view (see Rosser
et al., 2008). An alternative observable change to the rock slope during pre-failure movement is surface
orientation, or incline, relative to the scanner. As such, this study examines the sensitivity of full waveform
terrestrial laser scanning (FW-TLS) to changes in target geometry, encompassing changes to both target
range and incline.
In conventional TLS systems, range is estimated using an algorithm which automatically detects an
undisclosed feature of the reflected laser beam (known as the waveform); this may be a threshold of the
reflected energy or the maximum amplitude. Critically, though conventional TLS systems can characterise
slopes at an unrivalled spatial resolution, they do not record the structure of the reflected waveform. Full
waveform TLS captures and digitises the full structure (energy-time distribution) of the waveform offering
more measures of change than range alone. In the system used in this study, the waveform is recorded at
2.01005 10
-9
s intervals, providing 1590 amplitude measurements per beam. This allows the reflected
laser energy to be considered in a calibrated sense as the total reflected energy can be summed and
compared for each beam.
Despite divergences of less than 1 mrad, pulses may encounter multiple objects during flight; accordingly,
the full waveform of the backscattered pulse has enabled filtering of reflective objects such as vegetation
(Fowler et al., 2011; Jaboyedoff et al., 2012). In both conventional and full waveform LiDAR systems, the
energy of the received beam structure depends on the scanner mechanism, the spatial energy distribution
of the emitted beam, and the geometric and reflectance properties of the surface (Stilla and Jutzi, 2009).
Slope performance
Slope Stability 2013, Brisbane, Australia 765
The scanners angular resolution refers to its ability to resolve two objects in adjacent lines-of-sight (LOS) as
determined by the sampling interval (user-defined point spacing) and beam width. If beam width exceeds
the sampling interval, fine details become blurred. Beam width is indicative of the spatial energy
distribution of the laser beam as it strikes the target and is referred to as spot dimension (
). The spot
dimension is partially determined by the instrument-object distance (Petrie and Toth, 2008) and aperture
size:
(1)
Where:
(2)
Where:
= angle of incidence (rad).
As in Equation 1, range refers to the distance between the instrument and the target. Greater range and
incidence angles have been shown to decrease the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of resulting point clouds as
less intense signals are less likely to be detected (Soudarissanane et al., 2011) . A signal is weak when the
received power is below the noise level threshold of the detection unit.
Can full waveform technology enhance the use of terrestrial laser scanning to monitor J.G. Williams et al.
rock slope deformation?
766 Slope Stability 2013, Brisbane, Australia
Figure 1 illustrates that the incidence angle constitutes the cosine of the vector normal to the scanner and
the beam. If the laser beam strikes the surface with a non-zero incidence angle, the resulting footprint is
elongated; thus spreading the energy distribution over a greater target surface area. Using derivatives of
the radar equation, Soudarissanane et al. (2011) note that the SNR of a laser return deteriorates with the
cosine of the incidence angle. Moreover, SNR deterioration is inversely proportional to the square of range.
The use of FW-TLS in this study enables measurement of detailed changes to the structure of the waveform
in order to provide an alternative measurement of the influence of target geometry relative to
conventional TLS systems. Though a number of studies have sought to characterise the reflected structure
of airborne LiDAR systems (e.g. Stilla and Jutzi, 2009), none have yet been applied to constrain change to
the waveform from terrestrial platforms. This is particularly important on near-vertical deforming rock
slopes and benches where the instrument-object range may remain constant despite tilting/inclination of
the surface.
A 1 m
2
board, painted white to enhance the reflection of the signal, was rotated about its vertical axis at
instrument-object ranges 10, 20, 30, 200, 400 and 500 m. At each distance, rotation was undertaken in 5
increments between 0 and 60 normal to a Riegl VZ-1000 scanner equipped with full waveform capacity.
Slope performance
Slope Stability 2013, Brisbane, Australia 767
The boards initial orientation was established as normal to the direction of scanning using electronic
distance measurements of either side of the board, with both sides yielding equal ranges from the scanner.
Although the board is not assumed to act as a perfectly Lambertian reflector, the relative degree of
anisotropic reflectance is anticiapted as small due to the smoothness of the white painting.
The waveform data was extracted and then prepared for analysis using Stata statistical software, though
similar analysis is also effective within MATLAB. Points were spaced at 3 cm on the board and the central
portion cropped to remove reflected signals at the boundary between the board and its aluminium frame
(Figure 2). Using Equation 1 for the VZ-1000 scanner, the spot dimension at 400 and 500 m is 0.12 and
0.15 m respectively. As such, the central two-thirds of the board were cropped to create a distance of
0.17 m from the frame.
Change to the waveform at a set distance of 200 m was examined and the mean reflected waveform from
each board inclination created (Figure 3). From visual inspection, it is clear that only a very slight increase in
pulse width, typically measured at half of the maximum amplitude (Stilla and Jutzi, 2009), is exhibited with
target incline. Furthermore, the waveform retains a very similar shape despite change to the angle of
incidence. Changes to the maximum amplitude, however, appear far more sensitive to incidence angle
alteration. As larger incidence angles result in a more elongated footprint, the reflected photons are
returned over a greater time period, thereby reducing the waveform amplitude and widening the reflected
pulse width (Stilla and Jutzi, 2009). This can be shown to adhere to the radar equation:
(3)
Where: