Processing, April 2020
32 Processing APRIL 2020 After initial processing the point cloud of a storage tank is ready for analysis Software can automatically combine data from multiple scans A storage tank and surrounding secondary containment captured using laser scanning Software can compute containment volumes and identify spill points Handling tank point clouds The real work begins when the data returns to the office Specialized software combines or registers the multiple scans into a single point cloud Technicians then perform cleanup to remove extraneous points and structures that arent needed for the tank analysis Early lidar processing software was focused on merging and managing point clouds and offered only limited functionality for analysis or modeling With advances in software the additional data from laser scanning provides a look at a tank that is far more detailed than anything provided by total stations Software advances have streamlined the analysis process as well When laser scanning first came on the scene it could take hours to process the raw data From there users loaded the data into CAD to extract verticality information After that the API reports would be produced manually Today much of the work is automated according to Justin Naugle 3D Imaging expert for Houston based HMT Inspection a service provider for the aboveground tank industry Naugle described how he can use Trimble Geospatial RealWorks software to automatically register multiple point clouds into a single cohesive dataset and then perform basic cleanup and organization The resulting point cloud provides a comprehensive precise picture of the entire tank John Hazel general manager of HMTs Inspection Division summed up the experience The scanner collects a large number of points so we are not interpolating between points on the shell When using total stations we found they were missing areas of deflections that didnt lie on a vertical survey line Additionally the bottom course of a tank is assumed to be round but scanning reveals deviations on the bottom course in both the verticality and roundness aspects Using this system allows us to have a true view of the entire tank Leveraging the high density data built in functions for tank analysis can quickly produce the standard API reports Users can transfer results from RealWorks into external software packages if desired but many firms elect to use the specialized routines in RealWorks to handle point cloud management and spatial analysis Manually analyzing data and producing reports from total station data typically takes four hours or more But with automated software users
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