McKim & Creed provided a detailed bathymetric survey and scan of terminal features of a decommissioned aluminum manufacturing plant located on the east shore of the Mississippi River. The purpose of the survey and scan was to provide data to aid in the design of the terminal refurbishment.
Because a land-based scan would not capture all the terminal features, McKim & Creed mounted its trademarked mobile LiDAR system, MoDaC Mobile Data Collection®, on the survey vessel Sounds Deep to scan the terminal from the water.
McKim & Creed also surveyed the large cylindrical foundations, or caissons, of the terminal under the water surface. To perform the detailed survey, McKim & Creed used the Odom ES3 multibeam sonar system, but adjusted the sonar head to run passes close to the caissons. The adjustment enabled the sonar to detect the caissons from an area very close to the water surface down to the river bottom. The same method was used close to the shoreline to achieve near-seamless integration between multibeam bathymetry and scan data.
Multibeam and MoDaC scan data were merged in a detailed AutoCAD drawing that depicted terminal features and surrounding bathymetry in plan and profile form. 3D modeling of the main caisson foundations and pilings were produced using Civil 3D software.