Automated spacing measurement of formwork system members with 3D point cloud data
This addresses a safety and quality inspection problem for construction projects, but it is incremental as it applies existing techniques to a specific domain.
This research tackled the problem of manually measuring spacing between formwork system members in construction by proposing an automated framework using 3D point cloud data, and results from testing on a real site showed it is a promising alternative to manual methods.
The formwork system belonging to the temporary structure plays an important role in the smooth progress and successful completion of a construction project. Ensuring that the formwork system is installed as designed is essential for construction safety and quality. The current way to measure the spacing between formwork system members is mostly done using manual measuring tools. This research proposes a framework to measure the spacing of formwork system members using 3D point cloud data to enhance the automation of this quality inspection. The novelty is not only in the integration of the different techniques used but in the detection and measurement of key members in the formwork system without human intervention. The proposed framework was tested on a real construction site. Five cases were investigated to compare the 3D point cloud data approach to the manual approach with traditional measuring tools. The results indicate that the 3D point cloud data approach is a promising solution and can potentially be an effective alternative to the manual approach.