Automatic 3D Modeling Development and Application for Hydraulic Construction

Nowadays, the application of 3D models is increasing in almost every field, especially the AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction) industry. Most 3D models are generated through human manipulation with the use of CAD software like 3D Max, AutoCAD or Maya. These software packages are very efficient in 3D modeling, but sometimes they are not easy to use and experience might be required. Moreover, traditional 3D modeling is time-consuming, as manual input is required for each component as well as for the whole scene. Therefore, it is difficult for a person to build 3D models without good 3D modeling skills and the knowledge of 3D modeling tools, although CAD software provides many facilitating functions.

In the hydraulic engineering domain, 3D models are used not only to illustrate the realistic view before construction, but also to measure the construction’s volume in order to estimate cost based on cut-and-fill volume quantity, concrete volume quantity, etc. Therefore, 3D modeling is crucial and greatly needed in planning hydraulic construction. Since 3D modeling for hydraulic facilities requires accuracy and details, it would need a lot of time, effort and prior experience to manually build the whole model from scratch.

To meet this need, an approach of automatic 3D modeling is proposed in this paper. The main purpose is to help the user build a 3D model of hydraulic construction in less time and with less manual operation. Also, the proposed approach aims to provide easy-to-use features for those who do not have much experience in 3D modeling.

To demonstrate the proposed approach, an application is developed in the AutoCAD environment to automatically generate a 3D sluice model, a model of artificial passageway for water fitted with a valve or gate to stop or regulate water flow. With this approach, users no longer have to manually build 3D models step by step. A 3D model could be automatically generated shortly after the input of data. As most steps are automatically done by the computer, the result would be of high accuracy. A complete 3D sluice model could be created from a sketch without much effort and time spent comparing to the traditional step-by-step manual input and operation.