The invention discloses an external floating top vertical 
metal can volume measuring method. According to the method, firstly, complete three-dimensional 
point cloud data are obtained through adopting a multi-
station scanning and splicing mode at the upper and lower parts of a floating disc; and then, the integral thought is utilized, the can wall 
point cloud data are 
cut and are divided into a plurality of small cylinders, and the volumes of the small cylinders are calculated and are superimposed for obtaining the total volume. Through fitting the 
point cloud coordinate data of each small cylinder at the height parts, the girth sheet 
radius is obtained, and further, the area of the bottom of the cylinder is calculated; the cylinder volume is calculated according to the obtained height; and meanwhile, the temperature and gradient correction is introduced. The bottom volume calculation adopts an equal-area circle dividing mode, the volume of each 
round table body and each middle cone is calculated, and the obtained total displacement is superimposed. The method has the advantages that the operation is simple, the safety is high, the work intensity is low, the 
fast measurement of large-sized external floating top vertical 
metal cans can be realized, the 
data processing is convenient, the accuracy is high, meanwhile, the metrological 
verification cost is greatly reduced, and certain 
economic benefits are brought.