JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS

JOURNAL OF ROCK MECHANICS

Determining the Orientation of Discontinuities Using the Drone Photography (A Case Study of the Bench at the 2450 Level of the West Wall of Sarchesheme Copper Mine

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 M.Sc., Copper Sarcheshmeh Mining, Rafsanjan, Iran.
2 Assistant Professor, Dept. of Mining Engineering, Vali-e-Asr University of Rafsanjan, Rafsanjan, Iran
Abstract
Investigating the stability of mine walls in the final range is one of the most important topics in rock mechanics. In this regard, determination of the orientation of rock mass discontinuities is inevitable. One of the new methods for scanning the discontinuities is the photogrammetric that uses camera for imaging. But in large-scale mines, due to the height of the walls and the size of the mine, imaging by camera is very time-consuming and sometimes not possible. The main purpose of this research is to improve the efficiency of the photogrammetric method using the images obtained from the drone in evaluating the discontinuities. Hence, a study is conducted on 2450 bench, Western wall, Sarchesheme copper mine. First, the considered area is captured using a drone. In the next step, Agisoft Metashape software is used to process the images and a 3D image of the desired area is made for further studies. Finally, using Sirovision software, the orientation of discontinuities in the images is determined and by Dips software, the status of discontinuities is studied. In order to evaluate the results, discontinuity scanning is done using the Window method. Investigations show that the accuracy of the obtained results appliying the photogrammetric method has increased significantly in comparison with the scan window method. In addition to higher efficiency, the proposed method reduces the time of scanning discontinuities and has a higher level of reliability.
Keywords
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