Soil Settlement / Subsidence

Monitoring System

Main System Specifications

• Distributed fiber optic sensors for soil

settlement and subsidence measurements
• Measurement range up to tens of kilometers,
depending on the fiber optic sensor model
• Thousands of measurement points along a
single fiber
• Spatial resolution up to 0.5 m
• Proven and tested concept
• Continuous and automatic monitoring
• Central Database
• Automatic alerting
• Insensitive to electromagnetic interferences

DiView-DiTeST Software

APPLICATION NOTE

Other project references Also available

Polyfunctional technical textiles - Italy (2006-2010)
Zimmersrode landslide monitoring project - Germany (2009)
Brammenterminal settlement monitoring project - Netherlands (2009)
Soil subsidence monitoring project - United States (2010)
Fiber Optic Leak Detection System for Gas and Poisonous/Flammable Liquids
Bridge Instrumentation and Structural Health Monitoring
Dam Safety and Monitoring Instrumentation
Instrumentation of Historical Monuments
Instrumentation of Nuclear Power Plants
Geotechnical and Structural Monitoring
Instrumentation of Storage Facilities
Tunnel Instrumentation
Mine Instrumentation
Cliff Instrumentation
Others
 Soil Settlement / Subsidence Monitoring System

Distributed fiber optic technology offers the capability to

measure strain and deformation at thousands of points
along a single fiber up to tens of kilometers. This is of par-
ticular interest for geotechnical monitoring of sensitive in-
frastructures, where it allows detection and localiza-
tion of ground movements such as slope failure and sink-
hole. Fiber optic sensing system offers the ability to de-
tect and localize deformation induced by geotechni-
cal movements, allowing the monitoring of several kilome-
ters with a single instrument and the localization of an
event with a precision better than 1 meter. Ground settle-
ments and deformations induce the fiber optic sensor in tension or compression by changing its
tensile state. These variations of tensile state can be detected, localized and quantified.

A short light pulse, at a defined wavelength, is injected into a fiber optic. During its propagation,
light interacts with the fiber as the result of a Brillouin scattering effect. This interaction tends to
change the physical properties of the light, and generates a backscatter effect. The backscatte-
red light is collected and analyzed by the DiTeSt BOTD analyzer who determines localization of
the event along the fiber optic sensor, as well as its magnitude.

The monitoring system developed by the Roctest Group is a combination of fiber optic, opto-
electronic instruments and DiView data acquisition software. Cables are normally embedded in
the ground and integrated in geotextile in order to enhance mechanical interaction with surroun-
ding soils. The possibility to cover long distances and the fiber optic sensor robustness allows
the system to be suitable for large scale projects. The presence of customized data manage-
ment software enables a continuous, automatic and easy monitoring with the possibility to trig-
ger alarms in case events are detected.
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Roctest Ltd. Telemac SAS Smartec SA

665 Pine Avenue 10, avenue Eiffel Via Pobiette 11
St.Lambert, Quebec 77220 Gretz-Armainvilliers CH-6928 Manno
J4P 2P4 CANADA FRANCE SWITZERLAND
Telephone: 1.450.465.1113 / 1.877.ROCTEST Telephone: +33.1.64.06.40.80 Telephone: +41.91.610.18.00
Fax: 1.450.465.1938 Fax: +33.1.64.06.40.26 Fax: +41.91.610.18.01
Email: info@roctest.com Email: info@telemac.fr Email: info@smartec.ch
Web: www.roctest-group.com Web: www.roctest-group.com Web: www.roctest-group.com

EAPN-Settlement-110923