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。铁路和运河网络内的岩土工程资产（即岩屑和砾石）以及供水设施网络内的土坝尤其如此。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用性，而不是适用性-因此，许多这些结构正在恶化，需要大量的资源进行维护和补救。这一点在今年的极端降雨中得到了清楚的证明，这些降雨导致了许多斜坡失稳，并对英国的关键基础设施造成了重大破坏。目前的监测方法往往不足以预测斜坡失稳事件。它们过度依赖气象数据和地表观测，如人工走查、航空摄影或现场调查（即钻孔和试采坑），而这些数据和观测不能充分量化（空间或时间）作为边坡破坏“前兆”发生的地下过程。相反，故障通常在启动后才被发现，在许多情况下，这对于实施低成本的预防性干预措施来说为时已晚。岩土工程资产所有者越来越认识到，新兴的低成本地面传感技术（例如地球物理地面成像;新的地面运动、孔隙压力和湿度传感器;智能网络;无线通信）可以以前所未有的空间和时间分辨率水平提供对资产内部状况的自动化监测，从而为潜在的斜坡崩塌提供早期预警，并加强其网络对环境风险的抵御能力。这一点可以从铁路网的新政策中得到证明，该政策增加了小规模“翻新和维护”干预的数量，减少了高成本的“更新”干预，这将通过远程监控技术的大量使用得到支持。然而，行业采用这些新技术存在一些主要障碍。这些问题包括行业意识有限，采用新技术时谨慎，以及缺乏验证和演示边坡监测应用新技术的案例研究。一些新兴技术还需要目前研究界提供的专家投入，但现有的岩土监测咨询公司和承包商尚不能提供。某些地球物理地面成像技术尤其如此，这些技术需要复杂的工作流程来获取与资产所有者相关的信息。另一个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对接，以便最终用户和技术受益者可以访问和理解所产生的数据。因此，该项目将寻求让研究人员和行业利益攸关方参与进来，以克服这些障碍，从而采用自动化状态监测技术。我将寻求（1）了解当前的行业监测实践，（2）确定可适用于斜坡监测的关键新兴监测技术，（3）考虑近实时分析和远程流监测数据交付的方法，（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）编制一系列指导文件，详细说明新兴技术。为了实现这一目标，我将建立在我的联系，通过一系列的基础设施研究和创新项目的研究委员会（NERC和EPSRC）和政府发展机构资助的行业和学术界已经建立，我在欧盟成本行动TU 2012（“气候变化对工程斜坡的影响基础设施”）的参与。

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').