Application of 3D Laser Scanning Technology Using Laser Radar System to Error Analysis in the Curtain Wall Construction

Abstract

With the fast growth and rapid development of the construction industry, building design is not satisfied with only safety, accessibility, and habitability. People are requiring more multifunctional layouts and beautifully designed buildings. Thus, special and unique-shaped buildings with various curved curtain walls have emerged more than ever in recent years. As for these curtain walls, it is difficult to perform the size measurement for panel design and calibration, as well as the on-site material cutting and assembly accurately and efficiently. The occurrence and continuous progress of 3D laser scanning technology combined with building information modeling (BIM) technology have been paid attention to and applied for curtain wall engineering to overcome this problem, particularly the construction-related progress, such as developed design and on-site installation. The 3D laser scanning technology can achieve fast and high-precision measurement by creating a “point cloud” dataset of the target building and its components, based on which an accurate as-built 3D BIM model of the scanned items can be established. By comparing and calibrating with the as-planned curtain wall design, engineers can update the real-time information (locations, shape, dimensions, etc.) for the following developed design and assembly production of the curtain wall. Compared to the conventional approach using manual locating and measurement, the progress of the curtain wall design and installation can be achieved in a more accurate and efficient manner by employing 3D laser scanning technology. Based on these considerations, in this present study, the basic concept, workflow, a case study with practical strategies of the application of 3D laser scanning technology in the curtain wall design and installation field, including the scanning operation, point cloud data acquisition and processing, 3D BIM model reconstruction, and relevant BIM model practice have been elaborated and discussed. Also, the 3D model that represents the actual construction condition established based on the point cloud data was used to compare with the originally designed BIM model. It was found discrepancies existed in the dimensions and positions between the as-built and as-designed BIM models, which can thus be used to revise the manufacture design and improve the installation plan of curtain walls. Furthermore, the difference, benefits, great significance of replacing conventional methods with 3D laser scanning technology, and instructions, limitations, recommendations for practical application, along with challenges and future directions open to research in the curtain wall construction field, were also presented in this work. Therefore, this work provides technical support to the application of 3D laser scanning technology and its combination with the BIM platform in the curtain wall construction.

Methodology for retrospectively developing a BIM model from point cloud scans using ongoing building project as case study

“…3D laser scanning has become a popular method for data collection in the AEC industry as this technology captures the spatial characteristics of objects and produces a collection of 3D point cloud data. According to Wang, et al (2022), the use of 3D laser scanning has several advantages, including its high accuracy, sufficient geometric data, and the ability to capture large amounts of data quickly; and 3D laser scanning has been used for applications such as site inspection, building condition assessment, and heritage documentation. For example, Truong-Hong & Lindenbergh (2022) investigated the integration of 3D laser scanning and BIM for non-BIM-based construction projects, while Previato et al (2022) proposed an integrated framework for 3D laser scanning and BIM-based construction quality control.…”

“…The use of laser scanning technology is a common method for collecting 3D geometrical data from existing buildings due to its high accuracy and sufficient geometric data embedded in the collected data (Wang et al, 2015;Wang et al, 2022;Truong-Hong & Lindenbergh, 2022). This technique which has been widely adopted is considered superior to traditional survey methods, thus making it the most commonly used data collection technique (Yu, 2022;Alaloul et al, 2021).…”

“…The adoption of 3D laser scanning technology has emerged as a solution to producing accurate results for existing and ongoing structures with close to zero errors (Wang et al, 2022). The use of 3D laser scanning technology introduces a variety of applications that can fulfil the significant requirement for swift spatial data collection in the AEC industry.…”

Editorial for the Special Issue “Radar Techniques for Structures Characterization and Monitoring”

“…But it also expands to include other techniques such as laser-based scanning and insight into new developments in the field of radar processing. Ten research papers were published in this Special Issue, comprising nine articles [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] and one technical note [10].…”

“…Finally, the paper from Wang et al [10] illustrates a remote sensing technique using a 3D laser scanner to acquire building geometrical information and compare it with the original design drawings, update the design drawings, and obtain as-built measurements.…”