Numerical modeling of LiDAR-based geological model for landslide analysis

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) technology has been increasingly applied in geotechnical fields because of its high precision, high efficiency, and ease of use. To date, the majority of geotechnical research has focused on external objects. Few studies address internal properties by combining LiDAR with the finite element method (FEM). The current work extends literature on internal objects by constructing a 3D geological model that combines a LiDAR-derived 3D surface model with geotechnical parameters. Manual and automatic approaches for converting data from the geological model to data for the FEM numerical model are proposed. This conversion is the basis for simulation and stability analysis. The effectiveness of a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) model in quantitative stability analysis is also demonstrated. This is accomplished by comparing the results of the stability analyses of the TLS model and a simplified model derived from a digital elevation model (DEM). (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.