EPSRC-SFI: ROBOCONE: intelligent robotics for next generation ground investigation and design

岩土基础设施从根本上支撑着我们社会的交通、能源和公用事业网络。这种基础设施的设计面临着越来越多的挑战，这些挑战与在更恶劣或更复杂的环境和更严格的操作条件下施工有关。现代设计方法认识到，地面的强度和刚度，以及基础设施的安全性和弹性，会随着时间的推移而变化，无论是来自火车，交通，波浪，水流，季节性水分循环，建筑结构的重建还是拥挤的城市地区的附近建筑。然而，岩土工程分析方法的进步还没有得到更好的工具来匹配，以代表现实的真实负载条件的方式在现场探测和测试地面。本研究将通过开发ROBOCONE（一种用于智能地面表征的新现场调查工具）及其解释性理论框架（从数据到设计）来改善当前的岩土工程现场调查实践。ROBOCONE将联合收割机机器人控制和传感器集成的现代技术与土-结构相互作用的新理论分析相结合。ROBOCONE将摆脱传统现场调查工具的运动学限制，具有三个模块化部分，可以远程驱动和控制，以在地面上施加水平，垂直和扭转运动机制，密切模仿岩土基础设施整个寿命期间经历的荷载和变形历史。该设备的开发将得到新的理论方法的支持，以解释ROBOCONE的数据，提供客观可靠的岩土参数，准备用于现代基础设施的“全寿命”设计。这项研究将提供一个范式转变的设备，在现场地面特性。ROBOCONE将使先进的土壤特性及其随时间的变化直接在现场具有成本效益和可靠的特性，最大限度地减少了昂贵和耗时的实验室调查的需要，这些调查总是受到采样和测试限制的影响。岩土工程原位表征将与现代、弹性和优化的岩土工程设计方法同步进行。

Geotechnical infrastructure fundamentally underpins the transport, energy and utility networks of our society. The design of this infrastructure faces increasing challenges related to construction in harsher or more complex environments and stricter operating conditions. Modern design approaches recognise that the strength and stiffness of ground, and therefore the safety and resilience of our infrastructure, changes through time under the exposure to in-service loading - whether from trains, traffic, waves, currents, seasonal moisture cycles, redevelopment of built structures or nearby construction in congested urban areas. However, advances in geotechnical analysis methods have not been matched by better tools to probe and test the ground in situ, in a way that represents realistic real-world loading conditions. This research will improve current geotechnical site investigation practice by developing ROBOCONE - a new site investigation tool for intelligent ground characterisation - and its interpretative theoretical framework - from data to design. ROBOCONE will combine modern technologies in robotic control and sensor miniaturisation with new theoretical analyses of soil-structure interaction. Breaking free from the kinematic constraints of conventional site investigation tools, ROBOCONE will feature three modular sections which can be remotely actuated and controlled to impose horizontal, vertical and torsional kinematic mechanisms in the ground closely mimicking loading and deformation histories experienced during the entire lifespan of a geotechnical infrastructure. The device development will be supported by new theoretical approaches to interpret ROBOCONE's data to provide objective and reliable geotechnical parameters, ready for use in the modern "whole-life" design of infrastructure. This research will provide a paradigm shift in equipment for in situ ground characterisation. ROBOCONE will enable the cost-effective and reliable characterisation of advanced soil properties and their changes with time directly in-situ, minimising the need for costly and time-consuming laboratory investigations, which are invariably affected by sampling and testing limitations. Geotechnical in-situ characterisation will be brought into step with modern, resilient and optimised geotechnical design approaches.