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

MRI：光纤采集

• 批准号: 0821788
• 负责人: Mary MacLaughlin
• 金额: $ 48.88万
• 依托单位: Montana Technological University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-08-15 至 2011-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0821788&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Acquisition; Fiber; Optic; &amp

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.

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、矿山和实验室等地下深层设施的变形。 此次收购促进的研究将需要利用现有的光纤技术，但在一个相对新颖的应用和一个网站（拟议的DUSEL网站位于前Homestake矿山铅，SD），这将提供令人兴奋的潜力，建立长期的研究协同作用。 光纤仪器以前曾用于其他工程应用，但这将是第一次全面研究其在岩石大型开挖的挑战性地下环境中的性能。 岩石变形的测量将在不同的空间和时间尺度上进行比较，在网站上有显着不同的预期行为。DUSEL现场的分布式和局部应变测量将为几个地质力学，水文和地球工程实验提供重要的基础设施数据库。 大体积的覆盖范围使其成为校准矿山规模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以及矿山安全。 具体而言，光纤网络将有助于：（1）了解岩体如何变形作为一个功能的空间尺度在很长一段时间内，（2）解释矿山地震活动性实验，（3）测试之间的耦合断裂流动和变形，和（4）安全，因为它提供了一个大容量的指示矿井？呼吸？并且可以利用用于洞穴监测的公共测量协议来部署。作为DUSEL计划的一部分，重点是在Homestake站点部署光纤仪器，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。 其中包括a）伊利诺斯州的费米实验室，该实验室已经安装了基于倾斜仪的监测系统，并已建立了为期2年的观测数据库，以及B）主动变形矿井，包括煤和硬岩，以便在不太理想的工作条件下评估监测系统的性能，在这种条件下，岩石预计会发生大幅移动。 这样一个全面的比较研究将导致更广泛地使用这种技术在采矿和隧道行业。研究重点是提供一个安全的工作环境在地下一直是核心蒙大拿理工学院为整个世纪的存在。 新设备将使蒙大拿理工大学在这一领域作出实质性的新贡献，有利于地下设施的运作和那些谁在那里工作。 这些监测系统的收购也将提供一个前所未有的，非常令人兴奋的机会，蒙大拿理工学院的教师与高层次的研究人员合作，从一流的博士机构在美国DUSEL是一个特殊的机会，大学，工业和国家实验室的研究人员合作，从建设到基础地球科学和地球工程的问题，通过占据一个单一的原位，大容量，地下实验室的三维通道。 K-12通过研究生和公众将获得如何通过观察研究人员提出问题，进行实验，进行观察，分析和解释结果获得地下岩体响应的知识。蒙大拿理工大学有非常强大的本科研究计划，并在DUSEL进行研究的机会预计将特别吸引学生研究人员。 PI在女学生和本科生参与其研究方面取得了巨大成功。