Quality Control for Concrete Steel Embed Plates using LiDAR and Point Cloud Mapping

Steel embed plates are a vital component in connecting steel to concrete members. They are most often used in the construction of tilt-wall concrete buildings, but can be used anytime there is a need to attach steel to a concrete panel or slab. Proper anchorage and connection to concrete should follow the ACI standards. Inspections need to verify the correct location (x, y, z) of steel embeds until concrete placements are finished. Typically, embeds should not affect the positioning of reinforcement, unless specifically allowed in the specifications. Currently, the process of ensuring the position of embeds is completed manually, which is costly, time consuming, and involves errors in complex construction. This paper proposes an approach to ensure embeds are positioned as per the design and within the tolerance limits stated in ACI 117. The proposed approach maps the BIM model geometry into a 3D point cloud of the as-built construction. The mapping process uses different computing platforms that eventually result in a position deviation report in the x, y, and z directions. An experiment was developed and conducted in the laboratory to show the applicability of the method. The results showed high accuracy in capturing the steel plates' deviations from the original position and generated a meaningful report for improving quality control and quick rework.