Terrestrial laser scanning monitoring and spatial analysis of ground disaster in Gaoyang coal mine in Shanxi, China: a technical note

Monitoring ground disasters caused by underground mining has an important role in safe mining operations. In this study, terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) was performed to capture the point-cloud data of the slope landslide, ground steps and cracks, and tilt of a high-voltage tower during underground mining. The captured point-cloud data were processed by denoising, modeling, sectioning, and spatial analysis. TLS was also conducted to collect the point cloud of high-voltage towers in different mining periods, analyze the tilt degree of the towers, and estimate the stability of the tower body. The entire station was also used to collect the coordinates of single points around the study area. Two methods are compared, namely TLS monitoring and analysis, which is advantageous in describing the detailed local situation of a ground disaster, and total station monitoring, which focuses on absolute displacement monitoring of a single point. The monitoring process can combine both methods, including the absolute displacement and description of detailed status, thereby providing technical assistance to ensure mining safety. The monitoring solution has been applied in Gaoyang coal mine, which is located in Shanxi Province. Results show that the TLS method is more effective than the total station in capturing detailed spatial data on high-voltage towers and ground disasters such as landslides.