Infrastructure KE Fellowship (Enhancing the resilience of infrastructure to climate change & extreme weather using automated monitoring technologies)

英国交通和公用事业基础设施网络的关键组成部分建于100多年前。对于铁路和运河网络中的岩土资产(即路基和堤坝)，以及水务网络中的土坝，情况尤其如此。与现代工程基础设施土方工程相比，这些结构往往建造得很差。材料的选择通常是基于可获得性，而不是适宜性--因此，这些结构中的许多正在退化，需要相当多的资源来进行维护和修复。这一点在今年的极端降雨中得到了明确的证明，极端降雨导致了大量的土方工程故障和英国关键基础设施的重大破坏。目前的监测方法往往不足以预测斜坡坍塌事件。它们过度依赖气象数据和地面观测，如人工漫步、航空摄影或现场勘测(即钻孔和试井)，这些数据和地面观测不能充分量化(在空间或时间上)作为斜坡破坏“前兆”发生的地下过程。相反，失败通常是在启动后才发现的，在许多情况下，这已经太晚了，无法实施低成本的预防性干预。岩土资产所有人越来越认识到，新兴的低成本地面遥感技术(例如地球物理地面成像；新的地面运动、孔压和湿度传感器；智能网络；无线通信)可以以前所未有的空间和时间分辨率自动监测资产的内部状况，从而对潜在的斜坡破坏提供早期预警，并增强其网络抵御环境风险的能力。这一点体现在Network Rail的新政策上，即增加小规模“翻新和维护”干预措施的数量，减少高成本的“更新”干预措施，这将得到远程监控技术显著增加的支持。然而，工业采用这些新技术存在许多主要障碍。这些问题包括行业意识有限、对采用新技术持谨慎态度，以及缺乏案例研究来验证和演示用于斜坡监测应用的新技术。一些新兴技术还需要目前研究界提供的专家意见，但现有的岩土监测咨询公司和承包商还无法提供这些意见。一些地球物理地面成像技术尤其如此，它们需要复杂的工作流程才能获得与资产所有者相关的信息。另一项挑战是需要将新的工作流程和数据流与当前的行业标准信息交付系统相连接，以便最终用户和技术受益者能够访问和理解所产生的数据。因此，该项目将设法使研究人员和行业利益攸关方克服采用自动状况监测技术的这些障碍。我将努力(1)了解当前的行业监测做法，(2)确定可适用于斜坡监测的关键新兴监测技术，(3)考虑对远程流动监测数据进行近实时分析和交付的方法，(4)提高资产所有者和服务提供商对新技术监测解决方案的认识，(5)编制一系列详细介绍新兴技术的指导文件。为了实现这一目标，我将通过一系列由研究理事会(NERC和EPSRC)和一个政府发展机构资助的合作基础设施研究和创新项目，以及我参与的欧盟成本行动TU2012(“气候变化对基础设施工程斜坡的影响”)，建立我与业界和学术界的联系。

Key components of the UK transport and utilities infrastructure networks were built more than 100 years ago. This is particularly true of geotechnical assets (i.e. cuttings and embankments) within the rail and canal networks, and earth dams within the water utilities network. These structures were often very poorly constructed compared to modern engineered infrastructure earthworks. Materials were typically selected on the basis of availability, rather than suitability - consequently many of these structures are deteriorating, and require considerable resources for maintenance and remediation. This was clearly demonstrated this year with extreme rainfall causing numerous earthwork failures and major disruption to critical UK infrastructure.Current monitoring approaches are very often inadequate for predicting slope failure events. They are overly reliant on meteorological data and surface observations, such as manual walkover, aerial photography, or site investigation (i.e. boreholes and trial pits), which do not adequately quantify (spatially or temporally) subsurface processes that occur as "precursors" to slope failure. Instead, failure is typically identified after it has been initiated, which, in many cases, is too late to implement low cost preventative interventions. There is a growing recognition by geotechnical asset owners that emerging low cost ground sensing technologies (e.g. geophysical ground imaging; new ground motion, pore pressure and moisture sensors; intelligent networks; wireless communications) could provide automated monitoring of the internal condition of assets at unprecedented levels of spatial and temporal resolution - thereby providing early warning of potential slope failure and enhancing the resilience of their networks to environmental risks. This is exemplified by Network Rail's new policy of increasing the number of small scale 'refurbishment and maintenance' interventions, and fewer high cost 'renewal' interventions, which will be underpinned by the significantly increased use of remote monitoring technology.However, there are a number of major barriers to the uptake of these novel technologies by industry. These include limited industry awareness, caution in adopting novel technology, and lack of case studies validating and demonstrating new technologies for slope monitoring applications. Some of the emerging technologies also require specialist input that is currently available within the research community, but which existing geotechnical monitoring consultancies and contractors cannot yet provide. This is particularly true of some of the geophysical ground imaging technologies, which require complex workflows to derive information relevant to asset owners. An additional challenge is the need to interface new workflows and data streams with current industry standard information delivery systems so that the resulting data is accessible and intelligible to end-users and beneficiaries of the technology.This project will therefore seek to engage both researchers and industry stakeholders to overcome these barriers to the uptake of automated condition monitoring technologies. I will seek to (1) understand current industry monitoring practices, (2) identify key emerging monitoring technologies that could be applicable for slope monitoring, (3) consider approaches for near-real-time analysis and delivery of remotely streamed monitoring data, (4) raise awareness amongst asset owners and service providers of new technological monitoring solutions, (5) produce a series of guidance documents detailing emerging technologies. To achieve this I will build on my links to industry and academia already established through a series of collaborative infrastructure research and innovation projects funded by the research councils (NERC and EPSRC) and a government development agency, and my participation in EU COST Action TU2012 ('Impact of climate change on engineered slopes for infrastructure').