ABSTRACT

The present paper shows some applications of the Tunnel Laser Scanner technique. Such technology, based on the laser and infrared joined employment, allows getting digital photographic image of the tunnel, its continuous geometric shape and extracting transversal sections at any progressive and the cavity thermographic image, simultaneously. Using this detection method, it is possible to control the lining thickness and the quantity of the materials used during the construction stage, to verify the actual conditions of an existing tunnel and to create a local mapping for a maintenance check of the structures. The Laser Scanner instrumentation used for the surveys of the road tunnels represents an innovative technique of investigation characterized by the significant level of details and accuracy of the measurements, as well as by the information acquisition rate and consequent reduction of the interference between construction and monitoring activities. Further point that is of particular importance it is the objectivity and reliability of the collected information that are independent from any operator’s personal decision, unlike the use of the traditional topographic instrumentation. In the paper, some applications of the Laser Scanner to roads tunnels will be illustrated. The main purpose of the adoption of such technique was to ensure an efficient control of the structure and a consequent resource savings and performance optimization.