ABSTRACT
The monitoring of potentially unstable mine slopes is standard engineering practice to prevent disasters associated with wall failures and collapses. Most mine walls are monitored on a strictly as-necessary basis due to the high cost, with the most common methods including conventional surveying or traditional geotechnical techniques and more recently satellite positioning techniques such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). However, all these techniques can only sample discrete points on a surface and the interpretation of possible deformations may be limited. An alternative method is the use of laser imaging systems that provide a dense set of three-dimensional vector observations relative to the scanner location. Given the volume of points and high sampling frequency, laser-imaging systems offer surveyors and mine engineers an unprecedented density of geospatial information coverage. This paper discusses the feasibility of laser imaging systems for wall deformation monitoring in the context of real data collected on a steep slope of a dam in Western Australia.
