Monitoring of Surrounding Rock Deformation in Underground Roadways Using 3D Laser Scanning and Analysis of Environmental Influencing Factors

Underground roadways are essential for personnel movement and equipment transport in coal mines, and the stability and deformation of surrounding rock are critical to mine safety. Traditional methods for monitoring surrounding rock deformation in underground coal mining are time-consuming, inefficient, and require on-site manual measurements. To improve monitoring efficiency and reduce acquisition time, a 3D laser scanning system was employed for deformation monitoring. However, in complex underground environments, 3D laser scanning is affected by multiple environmental factors. Controlled experiments were designed to simulate these conditions, and the effects of scanning resolution, object color, dust concentration, and scanner position on measurement errors were quantified to evaluate the feasibility of roadway measurements. A simulated roadway deformation environment was constructed, and point cloud data were used to monitor deformation and quantify the measurement error of the 3D laser scanner. A corresponding deformation monitoring system was developed to identify deformation patterns of surrounding rock in underground roadways. The proposed method was applied and validated at the Zouzhuang Coal Mine. The results indicate that the proposed approach can automatically acquire high-accuracy deformation data.