Photogrammetry for recording rock surface geometry and fracture characterization

Rock surface geometry and rock fractures are important initial data for rock engineering and mining projects. Traditionally the field data has been obtained manually with hand-held tools to perform point-like measurements. Photogrammetry-based methods of acquiring geometry over large areas became a useful tool in characterization of rock surfaces over the last few decades mostly due to developments with UAV based and GPU accelerated photogrammetry. In this paper, we describe the usage of photogrammetry applied to recording of rock surface geometry and fracture characterization. The method is used to produce the required initial data for rockfall analysis, to measure the roughness of rock joints, and to create virtual training environments to practice rock mass characterization. The rockfall analysis was tested using a 122 m long rock cut. The roughness measurements were tested on a 2 m long rock sample and compared to manual measurements. The virtual learning environment was tested with 20 students and 10 staff members. The presented method performed successfully in each case. The method improves accessibility, speeds up and reduces subjectivity of rock mass characterization.