Hampton County Spec Building

Frame & Panel Alignment Scan

STEEL FRAME & PRECAST PANEL ALIGNMENT VERIFICATION

Terrestrial LiDARFrame AlignmentPrecast PanelsDispute Resolution

LOCATION: Early Branch, South Carolina
BUILDING: 50,000 SF commercial spec building
SCOPE: High-resolution terrestrial LiDAR alignment scan

Colorized point cloud of the steel frame and roof structure

OVERVIEW

50,000SF

COMMERCIAL BUILDING

35 FT

PRECAST CONCRETE PANELS

When 35-foot precast panels would not seat against the steel frame, a single high-resolution LiDAR scan gave the construction team the objective, defensible data to settle the dispute and keep building.

This project united a regional general contractor and a national steel building manufacturer as a single construction team, with one shared goal: get a 50,000 SF commercial spec building to market as quickly as possible. When the panels failed to fit the frame, the concrete panel manufacturer disputed responsibility — leaving the construction team needing objective, irrefutable data to answer questions and keep the project moving.

PROBLEM

Panels didn't fit. Site was a bog.

Steel frame complete. 35-FT precast panels arrived. When placed, panels don't match frame as planned. What went wrong? Is the frame right? Is it leaning or warped? Are the panels correctly sized and installed?

No concrete floor. Winter rains turned building into a bog. Ground conditions compounded by a hydraulic sheepsfoot thwarted one survey firm's attempt to verify alignments using total stations.

Top-down intensity scan of the boggy interior ground surface — Top-Down View Of Ground Surface Only (Color-Coded Intensity)

SOLUTION

High-resolution terrestrial LiDAR

Blackthorn acquired high-resolution terrestrial LiDAR scans after work hours for maximum data with zero operational interruption.

FRIDAY

Contract signed at close of business

MONDAY

Mobilized. Acquired data after work hours. Zero operational interruption.

TUESDAY

Point cloud calibration, classification & quality inspection

WEDNESDAY

Hyperlink to project deliverable in client's inbox at start of business.

Concrete panel alignment heat map — Concrete Panel Alignment Heat Map (Relative To Vertical Plane Passing Through Base Of Wall)

The heat map above shows each concrete panel face deviation relative to a true vertical plane. Dark green indicates areas of 0.0 FT deviation from true vertical. Red indicates areas of +0.1 FT and Magenta indicates -0.1 FT. Individual panel misalignment and surface deformation are visually striking. Red on Magenta patch indicates a leaning panel with concave surface deformation and surface debris.

Point cloud visualized by classification with ground points — Visualized By Classification With Ground Points (No Roof)

Color-coded intensity from below looking up — Visualized By Color-Coded Intensity From Below Looking Up (No Ground Points)

Color-coded intensity cross section — Color-Coded Intensity Cross Section

Classification viewed cross section — Classification Viewed Cross Section

Frame against wall panel with door opening — Frame Against Wall Panel With Door Opening (Color-Coded Intensity)

Anchor Bolt Spacing Detail And Column Base Geometry

EQUIPMENT & DELIVERABLES

Equipment

Trimble X9 Terrestrial LiDAR Scanner

Survey-grade, millimeter-level accuracy. High-resolution point cloud capture for frame and panel alignment verification.

Deliverables

143 GB of data in client specified E57 format

20.3 GB client requested Trimble Business Center project files

Millions of measurable data points vs. CSV file with total station coordinates

OUTCOME

Objective data, agreed by all parties

Bringing Blackthorn's data into client specified software the following was discovered:

Steel manufacturing model aligned with calibrated point cloud.

Slight deviation in anchor bolt layout, but within tolerance.

Column height, lean, and rotation within tolerance.

Some precast concrete wall panels were misaligned and leaning, but not detrimental to overall project.

All parties were satisfied, a mutual solution agreed upon, and the project moved forward without delay.

RESPONSIVE. ACTIONABLE. DATA.

When you have to know.

When conventional methods fall short — bog conditions, tight timelines, or a dispute that demands an answer all parties will accept — terrestrial LiDAR delivers. Blackthorn Geomatics provides high-resolution data that is responsive, actionable, and defensible. If your next project requires more than a CSV file with a handful of coordinates, let's talk.