EFFICIENT MULTI-VIEW 3D TRACKING OF ARBITRARY ROCK FRAGMENTS UPON IMPACT

Abstract. This paper presents a new methodology to accurately obtain 3D rotational velocities of blocks and fragments. Four high speed cameras are used to capture the scene. An additional two tilted mirrors are used to multiply the number of views. Hence, a total of six different viewing perspectives can be used to track translational and rotational velocities in 3D. The focus in the current work is on the rotational velocities, as tracking of the translation is generally straightforward. A common outline tracking algorithm based on the visual hull is adapted. The visual hull is further meshed using triangular elements to approximate the shape of the object. This 3D reconstruction is then used to track the 3D motion of the object. However, the accuracy of the results strongly depends on the accuracy of the 3D reconstruction which is mainly influenced by the number and position of the available views. In any case, the 3D reconstruction from the visual hull is only an approximation and significant errors can be introduced which influence the tracking accuracy. Hence, an in-house post-processing algorithm based on the knowledge of the real geometry of the object, which can generally be accurately determined after a test, was developed. The improved performance of this new post-processing method is shown by controlled spinning tests. Finally, results of a real example of an impact fragmentation test are discussed.