Detection and characterisation of planar fractures using a 3D Hough transform

In this article we propose an algorithmic approach – the detection and the characterization of planar fractures based on the analysis of 3D data relative to rock samples (coming from X-ray=NMR tomography). Data analysis is based on a particular implementation of the Hough Transform for the detection of planes in a 3D space. One of the original aspects of our approach is the pattern detection strategy. In fact, it works in an iterative fashion and consists of the progressive removal of the layers that constitute the cumulative array in the Hough space. At each step, we 4rst determine the leading fracture from the analysis of the Hough cumulative arrays, and then we remove the corresponding cumulative layer in order to enable the detection of the next important fracture. We also show the results of some tests, which prove the proposed method e7ective even with very complex data sets. ? 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.