Surface damage quantification of postearthquake building based on terrestrial laser scan data

Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) has been suggested as a remote sensing tool for condition monitoring of structures. The laser-generated point cloud data contains 3-dimensional (3D) coordinate information of the object of interest, which can be processed for structural assessment. Commercial LiDARs also report the reflection intensity, representing the scattering of laser energy on the object surface. This paper proposes an innovative technique to enhance the structure damage quantification by integrating LiDAR point cloud 3D coordinate data and reflection intensity data using photogrammetric techniques. Unlike existing methods, the proposed algorithm simultaneously uses both 3D coordinate and reflection intensity information to improve the accuracy of damage assessment results. LiDAR scan data of an earthquake damaged building was used to demonstrate the damage assessment method of a wall component. The study indicates that the proposed method can significantly improve on the quantification of surface damage of the structure component.