Employing 3D laser scanner for automated morphological assessment of aggregates produced from diverse sources and by different crushing methods

This study introduced an automated approach employing 3D scanner for quick and precise aggregates shape analysis. Recognizing existing gaps, there is still an industry demand to propose a standardized method for measuring material characteristics using 3D scanning. By addressing the limitations of previous studies, this research considered unexplored aspects of 3D scanning to improve the speed and efficiency of that. This research comprehensively examined nearly 1500 aggregates from five natural sources and five types of slag. Four statistical tests named Mann-Whitney U, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Bootstrap, and Permutation were utilized to determine the optimal sample size for scanning. The findings suggest that scanning just 100 aggregates from each source is sufficient to be a small representative of the whole dataset and it can significantly reduce resource use while maintaining data integrity. As a practical insight, it has tried to scan a batch of 25 aggregates simultaneously in one session which could improve efficiency of scanning by reducing the processing time to just 0.6 min per particle. In MATLAB® software, some common bounding volume techniques such as Axis-Aligned, Oriented, Ellipsoid, and Sphere Bounding Box were used to analyze morphological properties. The findings showed that the aggregates sourced from Basalt, Moraine, and most of slags have more cubical shapes, while Porphyrit and Diabase aggregates are more elongated, flaky, and angular. This study also provided a comparative study of how various techniques for stone crushing affect the morphology of aggregates. The results indicate that a combination of jaw, cone, and horizontal impact crusher produces more spherical and cubical aggregates. Replacing of the cone crusher with a gyratory crusher in the same combination can improve elongation and sphericity slightly but may increase flaky particles. These insights offer valuable guidelines for future research and practical applications in construction material optimization. • Developing an automated approach for obtaining the 2D/3D shape index of aggregates. • Applying Bounding Volume Techniques in MATLAB to analyze morphological properties. • Influence of the source of aggregates on the shape properties of particles. • Effects of the employed crushing methods on the shape index of aggregates.