Semiautomatic Rock Mass Discontinuity Detection Using Digital Images
Alfred Vinod Antony, Joseph E. Dove · GeoCongress 2006 · 2006
Manual fracture mapping in tunnels, caverns, mines or other underground spaces is a time intensive and sometimes dangerous process. A system to automate this task can minimize human exposure to rockfalls, rockbursts or instabilities and facilitate the use of new methods of data visualization. This paper describes the program VTtrace; a semi-automatic fracture mapping algorithm based on image processing and analysis techniques. Fracture map and fracture properties are obtained from digital images using a series of image processing and analysis algorithms. Results from test images shows the VTtrace is effective in extracting rock discontinuity traces.