Preliminary Analysis and Monitoring of the Rock Slope on the M-22 Highroad Near Ljig in Serbia, Using LiDAR Data

Abstract

In this research terrestrial LiDAR scanning has been used for building high-resolution point clouds of a rock slope site on the M-22 highroad near Ljig in Serbia. The scanning has been conducted in two epochs in the past two years. The slope is about 100 m wide and 10 m high, and its surface is faceted, so we decided to process only one sample of the slope. The site is composed of a typical flysch rock succession with alternating layers of sandstone, conglomerate and claystone. The principal idea was to model the surface of this particular rock slope, by discretizing it with a point cloud (1–5 cm resolution, i.e. millions of points) and generate a plausible 3D model of the slope surface. Since one model is generated per each epoch it is possible to compare the models and track changes in different epochs, and to locate and measure the displacements, but also to perform all different kinds of measurements, analysis and estimations. These have included estimations of engineering-geological parameters and preliminary (kinematic) analysis of the rock slope. The research had shown how LiDAR technology can be successfully applied for engineering-geological problems and analysis of slopes susceptible to rockfalls. It supplements the field, in situ techniques and provides concurrent and reliable outputs.