Digital Solutions to Improve Workflows of 3D Ground Modelling

3D ground modelling often starts with importing digitised ground investigation (GI) data into modelling software. This first step is very vital for further ground interpretation with meaningful result. Since the invention of digitised GI data, any data obtained on site can be electronically transferred by adopting the AGS format (*.AGS). To utilise any digital GI data for this purpose, engineering geologists must go through manual data clean up to suit the import format of modelling software. Otherwise, details will be lost such that risks could potentially be overlooked in the interpretation of the data. Aurecon has developed a new tool specifically to automate the manual process to restructure any AGS data, streamlining the process of 3D ground modelling. After any AGS files are processed by this tool, the likelihood of overlooking any details or important information has been greatly minimized. From our experience, the time saving between using this tool and manually processing digital data to build up a 3D ground model is often more than 50%. This paper will first discuss challenges of 3D ground modelling from AGS data, followed by discussion on preferred data structure for ground modelling and capabilities of the tool to overcome these challenges.