MRI: Acquisition of Fiber Optic & Tiltmeter Systems for Measuring Deformations in Deep Underground Facilities

该合同将提供资金，用于购买最先进的光纤和倾斜仪传感器系统，用于监测隧道、矿山和实验室等深层地下设施的变形。本次收购所促进的研究将需要利用现有的光纤技术，但在相对新颖的应用和选址(建议的Dusel选址位于南达科他州Pad的前Homestake矿)将为建立长期研究协同效应提供令人兴奋的潜力。光纤仪器以前曾用于其他工程应用，但这将是首次对其在具有挑战性的地下环境中的性能进行全面研究，这些环境是在岩石中进行大型挖掘的。在预期行为截然不同的地点，将在不同的空间和时间尺度上对岩石变形进行测量和比较。杜塞尔站点的分布式和局部化应变测量将为几个地质力学、水文学和地球工程实验提供一个重要的基础设施数据库。巨大的覆盖范围使其成为校准矿山规模的变形有限元模型的理想选择；因此，光纤应变实验将有助于大型房间的设计和施工，并有助于矿山安全。具体地说，光纤网络将有助于：(1)了解岩石是如何在长时间内作为空间尺度的函数而变形的，(2)解释矿山地震活动实验，(3)测试裂隙流动和变形之间的耦合，以及(4)安全，因为它提供了矿山的大量指示？呼吸？并且可以与用于洞穴监测的通用测量协议一起部署。虽然重点是在Homestake站点部署光纤仪器，作为Dusel倡议的一部分，但其他站点将用于开发部署和解释技术，并作为比较研究的地点。这些措施包括a)伊利诺伊州的Fermilab，那里已经建立了一个基于倾斜仪的监测系统，并产生了一个为期两年的观测数据库，以及b)主动变形的煤矿，包括煤炭和硬岩，以便能够在不太理想的工作条件下评估监测系统的性能，在这些条件下，岩石预计会发生大幅移动。像这样的全面比较研究将导致这项技术在采矿和隧道行业中得到更广泛的使用。在蒙大拿理工大学存在的整个世纪里，专注于在地下提供安全工作环境的研究一直是其核心。新设备将使蒙大拿理工大学在这一领域做出实质性的新贡献，使地下设施的运营和在那里工作的人受益。收购这些监测系统还将为蒙大拿理工大学的教职员工提供一个前所未有的、非常令人兴奋的机会，让他们与美国一流博士机构的高水平研究人员合作。杜塞尔是大学、行业和国家实验室研究人员合作解决从建筑到基础地球科学和地球工程等问题的绝佳机会，它占用了一个具有三维通道的现场大容量地下实验室。通过研究生和公众，K-12将通过观察研究人员提出问题、进行实验、进行观测以及分析和解释结果来了解有关地下岩体响应的知识。蒙大拿理工大学有非常强大的本科生研究计划，预计在杜塞尔大学进行研究的机会对学生研究人员特别有吸引力。PI在她的研究中表现出了巨大的成功，吸引了女学生和本科生。

This award will provide funding to acquire state-of-the-art fiber optic and tiltmeter sensor systems for monitoring deformations in deep underground facilities, such as tunnels, mines, and laboratories. The research facilitated by this acquisition will entail utilization of existing fiber optic technology, but in a relatively novel application and at a site (the proposed DUSEL site located at the former Homestake Mine in Lead, SD) that would provide exciting potential for building long-term research synergy. Fiber optic instruments have previously been used in other engineering applications, but this will be the first comprehensive study of their performance in the challenging underground environment of large excavations in rock. Measurements of rock deformation will be made and compared in different spatial and temporal scales, at sites with drastically different expected behavior. The distributed and localized strain measurements at the DUSEL site will provide a crucial infrastructure database for several geomechanics, hydrology, and geoengineering experiments. The large volume of coverage makes it ideal for calibrating a mine-scale finite element model of deformation; as such, the fiber-optic strain experiment will contribute to design and construction of large rooms and to mine safety. Specifically, the fiber optic network will contribute to: (1) understanding how rock masses deform as a function of spatial scale over long times, (2) interpreting mine seismicity experiments, (3) testing of the coupling between fracture flow and deformation, and (4) safety as it provides a large-volume indication of the mine ?breathing? and can be deployed with a common measurement protocol for cavern monitoring. While there is a focus on deploying the fiber optic instrumentation in the Homestake site as part of the DUSEL initiative, other sites will serve to develop deployment and interpretation techniques and as locations for comparative studies. These include a) Fermilab in Illinois, where a tiltmeter-based monitoring system is already in place and has produced a 2-year database of observations, and b) actively-deforming mines, both coal and hardrock, to allow evaluation of the performance of the monitoring systems in less than ideal working conditions, in which the rock is expected to undergo substantial movement. A comprehensive comparative study such as this will lead to much wider use of this technology in the mining and tunneling industries. Research focused on providing a safe working environment in the subsurface has been central to Montana Tech for its entire century of existence. The new equipment will allow Montana Tech to make substantial new contributions in this area, benefiting operation of subsurface facilities and those who work there. Acquisition of these monitoring systems will also provide an unprecedented and very exciting opportunity for Montana Tech faculty to collaborate with high level researchers from the premiere doctoral institutions in the U.S. DUSEL is an exceptional opportunity for university, industry, and national laboratory researchers to work in partnership on problems from construction to basic geoscience and geo-engineering by occupying a single in situ, large-volume, underground laboratory with three-dimensional access. K-12 through graduate students and the public will gain an appreciation of how knowledge about underground rock mass response is gained by observing researchers pose questions, conduct experiments, make observations, and analyze and interpret the results. Montana Tech has very strong Undergraduate Research Program, and the opportunity to conduct research at the DUSEL is expected to be particularly attractive to student researchers. The PI has demonstrated great success involving female students and undergraduates in her research.