3D RECONSTRUCTION OF CRYSTALS IN A SYNTHETIC VOLCANIC ROCK

Here is a study using CATIA in an innovative field. No mechanics, no robotics, but geology. Don't believe it ? Read on to discover this amazing project !

Geological sciences are still rather unknown for most people but the discipline is fundamental to understand events of the past, to improve the world we live in and to design and build our future. That's why, Dassaut Systèmes and the Institut Polytechnique Lasalle have decided to pool their complementary resources through this innovative project which enables students and researchers to draw more precise conclusions from their observations by using a new method for the representation of their data.

We are 4 fourth years students preparing for a Master of Geosciences at Institut Polytechnique Lasalle in Beauvais, France. As part of our studies, one of our assignments is to conduct a research project in the field of geology. Our project focuses on the three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of crystals in a synthetic volcanic rock. The goal of this study is to correlate the thermal history of the rock (which is known) with its texture and crystal organization. 

What is unique about our project is that we are using CATIA in a field which is outside of traditional areas for which it has been designed, such as mechanics or robotics. We had to create and develop our own design methodology to build a 3D model of crystals from a series of two dimensional (2D) pictures of the sample, and it has been a very interesting and rewarding work. CATIA's utilities enable us to design manually each crystal, by testing and modifying different modeling strategies and to perform detailed measurements on crystal sizes.

A three-dimensional printing process has also been performed thanks to Dassault Systèmes. This object represents a powerful research tool about the relation between crystal organization and volcanic properties. The contribution of the 3D EXPERIENCE will enable students and researchers to study the parameters directly, which up to now has been approached with a theoretical perspective with numerical and material models. 

For more details, see our article "For curious people" in the section News of our project!