The Use of UAS in 3D Geotechnical Slope Stability Analysis

Abstract

The relief of an area controls factors such as drainage conditioning, thalweg and interfluve determination, watershed delimitation, and microclimate. In turn, all of these components control the rock alteration process, and origin and formation of soils. For this reason, it is necessary to observe geomorphological features of geotechnical areas of study. One of the emerging technologies in planialtimetric surveys makes use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), which provide high-resolution aerophotogrammetric surveys. This paper aims to evaluate the efficiency of UAS and obtain geomorphologic data to be used in slope stability analysis. Focusing on low cost solutions able to provide high-quality products data form the automatic flight of an Almost Ready to Fly quadcopter was evaluated and post-processed with the aim of generating a digital surface model and an orthophoto. The 3-dimensional slope stability analysis was performed using SoilVision’s SVSlope software, with geotechnical features obtained from physic and mechanic laboratory tests and topographic data from high-resolution digital surface model generated from UAS flight data. It was observed that UAS were effective for the slope stability analysis, since besides providing high-resolution topography, it proved to be a low-cost tool for periodic data acquisition, used to monitor slope failure and validate predicted slope deformations.