Frontiers in Built Environment (Jun 2024)

Semi-automated creation of IFC bridge models from point clouds for maintenance applications

  • Yohann Schatz,
  • Bernd Domer

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2024.1375873
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10

Abstract

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Bridge maintenance activities benefit from digital models, provided in the interoperable IFC format. Such a model, enriched with up-to-date information, is an enabler for a wide range of applications. It opens new perspectives in asset information management. However, the manual creation of a digital replica, representing the actual state of the asset from point cloud data, is time-consuming. Consequently, process automation is of particular interest. This paper proposes a systematic, semi-automatic approach for creating IFC bridge models from point clouds. It introduces new methods for semantic segmentation and 3D shape modeling. A case study demonstrates the feasibility of the process in practice. Compared to other solutions, proposed methods are robust when dealing with incomplete point clouds.

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