Abstract

Errors are inherent in the measurement process. In practice, a number of procedures are performed in order to have greater control over these errors. The surveying activities with the goal of monitoring structures present uncertainties due to the instrumentation and the geometrical configuration of the monitoring network, the last one depending on the position of the total station in relation to the points that will be monitored (object-points). In this paper, simulations are performed to predict the behavior of these propagated errors in the surveying, considering the use of the free station method for total station orientation and the three-dimensional polar method for the monitoring of large civil structures, such as dams. The threedimensional modeling and representation of the errors propagated on the structure aims to support dams security technicians in the selection of object-points so that it is possible to use the spatial location required by the team of civil monitoring and also it is possible to presents the lowest values of propagated variance. With the methodology of free station and threedimensional polar surveying, simulations were performed in a test area considering different positions for implantation of the reference points used in the total station orientation, and different positions for set up the total station used in the survey. As one of the results of the research a plugin was developed, in free software that is available to the user, which allows the calculation of the values propagated in the model of the evaluated structure. Thus, it was possible to analyze different geometries for the positioning of the total station.

Authors and Affiliations