Applications of terrestrial laser scanning for tunnels: a review

In recent years, the use of terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technique in engineering surveys is gaining an increasing interest due to the advantages of non-contact, rapidity, high accuracy, and large scale. Millions of accurate 3D points (mm level accuracy) can be delivered by this technique with a high point density in a short time (up to 1 million points per second), which makes it a potential technique for large scale applications in engineering environments such as tunnels, bridges, and heritage buildings. Tunnels, in particular those with long lengths, create great challenges for surveyors to obtain the satisfactory scanned data. This paper presents a short history of TLS techniques used for tunnels. A general overview of TLS techniques is given, followed by a review of several applications of TLS for tunnels. These applications are classified as: detecting geological features of drilling tunnels, monitoring the geometry of tunnels during excavation, making deformation measurements, and extracting features. The review emphasizes how TLS techniques can be used to measure various aspects of tunnels. It is clear that TLS techniques are not yet a common tool for tunnel investigations, but there is still a huge potential to excavate.