Damage Assessment of the 2010 Chile Earthquake and Tsunami Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning

Abstract

In the wake of the 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami, a reconnaissance survey recorded earthquake and tsunami damage using terrestrial laser scanning (TLS), which is capable of detecting details that most traditional reconnaissance methods cannot. TLS enables precise measurements of structural deformations and damage (including shear cracking of concrete walls, concrete spalling, and damage of rebars), as well as soil deformations and damage (including erosion, scour, liquefaction, lateral spread, slope failure, and ground displacement). Advanced measurements such as minute structural rotations, spatial distribution of cracks, volumetric and positional change calculations can also be obtained. Herein, we present various types of detailed measurements and analyses using TLS data obtained at several sites that were damaged by the earthquake and/or tsunami in Concepción, Constitución, Dichato, and Talcahuano. Moreover, this high-resolution data has enabled a unique avenue for virtual, post-visit analysis, providing additional insights that were not readily observable during the field visit.

Estimating Individual Tree Height and Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) from Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) Data at Plot Level

“…TLS is a laser-based instrument that measures its surroundings using LiDAR for range measurement and precise angular measurements through the optical beam deflection mechanism to derive 3D point observations from the object surfaces [23]. The high-density point cloud data obtained by TLS is widely used and researched in many fields such as engineering surveys [24,25], Earth sciences [26,27], natural disasters [28][29][30], coastline erosion [31][32][33], vegetation monitoring [34,35], and digital terrain mapping [35,36]. In recent years, TLS has been increasingly applied to forest resource surveys, forest management and planning [37,38].…”

Cluster-Based Roof Covering Damage Detection in Ground-Based Lidar Data

“…Ground-based LiDAR technology including Terrestrial (stationary) Laser Scanning (TLS) and Mobile Laser scanning (MLS), offer potential advantages for post event damage assessments compared to airborne remote sensing [7,15,16,23]. Laser scanners can measure the 3D coordinates (x, y, z) of many points on objects and produce dense point clouds in which even in low resolution datasets the distances between measured points are typically less than 10 cm.…”

“…Systems equipped with cameras also provide color of the measured points (mostly in the form of red, green, and blue (RGB) values). Several studies have indicated the advantages of such spatial and spectral information to be used in post disaster forensic investigations [3,6,7,12,15,16], structural deformation analyses [17,18], and detection of flatness defects in concrete slabs [20].…”

Building Earthquake Damage Analysis Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning Data

“…With regard to earthquake damage assessments, TLSs can provide high-precision three-dimensional information about damaged building structures. Although some scholars have employed TLSs in field survey work after earthquakes and tsunamis and have acquired point cloud data for damaged buildings and secondary disaster areas [15,16], studies on the quantitative extraction and analysis of building damage information from point cloud data are insufficient.…”