A New Prototype for Automatic Identification of Stone Block Internal Structure

Nowadays, the inner shape and economic viability of a stone block is dependent on the skill and experience of the “expert” that makes predictions based on external observations. This actual procedure is an extremely high empirical method, and when it fails, substantial work, time, and money is wasted. At present, researchers are committed to developing models to predict the stone block internal structure based on non-destructive tests. Ultrasonic tomography and electrical resistivity tomography are the tests that best fit these objectives. Trying to improve the existing procedures for collecting stone information and data exporting, a novel approach to perform both tomographies is proposed in this paper. This novel approach presents sound advantages regarding the current manual procedure: namely, (i) high accuracy due to a new automatic positioning system; (ii) no need for highly skilled operators to process measurements; (iii) measurements are much easier to derive, and results are quickly delivered. A comparison between the new automatic process and the current manual procedure shows that the manual procedure has a very low accuracy when compared to the new developed automatic system. The automatic measurements show extremely significant time savings, which is a relevant issue for the future competitiveness of the stone sector.