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

该合同将为采购最先进的光纤和倾斜仪传感器系统提供资金，用于监测深地下设施（如隧道、矿山和实验室）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地点（拟议的DUSEL地点位于SD铅的前Homestake矿山），这将为建立长期研究协同作用提供令人兴奋的潜力。光纤仪器以前曾用于其他工程应用，但这将是第一次全面研究它们在岩石中大型挖掘的具有挑战性的地下环境中的性能。岩石变形的测量将在不同的空间和时间尺度上进行，并在具有完全不同的预期行为的地点进行比较。在DUSEL站点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关键的基础设施数据库。大的覆盖范围使其成为校准矿山尺度有限元变形模型的理想选择；因此，光纤应变试验将有助于大硐室的设计和施工，有利于矿山安全。具体来说，光纤网络将有助于：(1)了解岩体在长时间内作为空间尺度的函数是如何变形的；(2)解释矿山地震活动实验；(3)测试断裂流动和变形之间的耦合；(4)安全，因为它提供了一个大容量的矿山呼吸指示？并且可以与洞穴监测的通用测量协议一起部署。虽然作为DUSEL计划的一部分，重点是在Homestake站点部署光纤仪器，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。其中包括：a)伊利诺斯州的费米实验室，在那里一个基于倾斜仪的监测系统已经就位，并产生了一个为期2年的观测数据库；b)主动变形矿山，包括煤炭和硬岩，允许在不理想的工作条件下评估监测系统的性能，在这种工作条件下，岩石预计会发生实质性的移动。这样一项全面的比较研究将导致这项技术在采矿和隧道掘进工业中得到更广泛的应用。在蒙大拿理工学院存在的整个世纪里，致力于提供安全的地下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。这些监测系统的收购也将为蒙大拿理工学院的教师提供一个前所未有的、非常令人兴奋的机会，让他们与来自美国一流博士机构的高水平研究人员合作。DUSEL是大学、工业和国家实验室研究人员的一个难得的机会，通过占用一个原位的、大容量的、地下实验室与三维访问。通过K-12的研究生和公众将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，了解如何获得地下岩体响应的知识。蒙大拿理工学院有非常强大的本科研究项目，在DUSEL进行研究的机会预计对学生研究人员特别有吸引力。该项目在女性学生和本科生的研究中取得了巨大成功。

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.