Full-Length Tunnel Structural Monitoring
DANIELE INAUDI and ROBERTO WALDER
ABSTRACT
New and existing tunnels can present structural risks related to surrounding
geotechnical and hydrological conditions as well as unknowns related to design
assumptions and construction materials. Such risks can materialize through the
apparition of abnormal deformations, cracks, water ingress or, in the worse cases,
collapse. The localization of such events or their precursor signs is a-priori unknown,
so traditional instrumentation in chosen cross-sections is ineffective for damage
detection and localization. Regular visual inspection is more effective in terms of
detection probability, but is typically limited in terms of temporal intervals between
visits. Additionally, tunnels are often difficult to inspect since the access is restricted
due to operational reasons.
If such structural risks have been recognized in the design phase or have been
identified by inspection, installing a distributed fiber optic sensing system allows a
permanent monitoring of the tunnel over its whole length. Sensing cables are typically
installed longitudinally along the tunnel length at different positions around the section
and provide detection and localization or abnormal deformations and settlements,
formation or development of cracks and unusual temperatures.
This contribution presents the application of distributed optical fiber sensing to the
permanent monitoring of a highway, a railway and a penstock tunnel. For each project
we provide information about the system design, installation and monitoring results.
TUNNEL MONITORING NEEDS
The growing demand of tunnel safety during construction and in operation, has
stimulated, in the last years, the development of several monitoring techniques capable
of detecting and localizing early-stage events, thus preventing structures from major
failures and leading to a better knowledge of the structure itself. In the field of
geotechnical applications such as tunnels, where both the large structure dimensions and
damage location forecast represent a challenge, distributed techniques offer the
capability of monitoring the whole length of the tunnel using a single fiber optic sensor.
Daniele Inaudi, SMARTEC SA, Via Pobiette 11, Lugano, Switzerland. www.smartec.ch
Thus, using a limited number of very long sensors, it is possible to monitor structural
and functional behavior of tunnels with a high measurement and spatial resolution at a
reasonable cost [1]. Typical needs in tunnel monitoring include: detection and
localization of cracks in concrete lining, monitoring horizontal and vertical
deformations, convergence monitoring, joint movements and localization of water
ingress points. All those events are unpredictable in their location. It is therefore
unpractical to address those using traditional point sensor installed at some predefined
locations, since events can occur in-between those instrumented sections [2]. The
common practice is therefore to rely on regular visual inspection. This, however, often
requires to stop traffic in the tunnel and this strongly limits the frequency of such
inspections. A permanent and autonomous monitoring system able to cover the whole
length of the tunnel, therefore present real operational and safety advantages.
DISTRIBUTED STRAIN SENSING
Unlike electrical and localized fiber optic sensors, distributed sensors offer the
unique characteristic of being able to measure physical parameters along their whole
length, allowing the measurements of thousands of points using a single transducer.
The most developed technologies of distributed fiber optic sensors are based on
Raman and Brillouin scattering [3]. Both systems make use of a non-linear interaction
between the light and the silica material of which a standard optical fiber is made. If
light at a known wavelength is launched into a fiber, a very small amount of it is
scattered back at every point along the fiber. The scattered light contains components at
wavelengths that are different from the original signal. These shifted components
contain information on the local properties of the fiber, in particular its strain and
temperature. For strain and deformation monitoring, Brillouin scattering is the only
option, since Raman is only sensitive to temperature.
Brillouin Distributed Strain Technology
Brillouin scattering sensors show an interesting potential for distributed strain and
temperature monitoring. Systems able to measure strain or temperature variations of
fibers with length exceeding 50 km with spatial resolution down to 1m, are now
demonstrating their usefulness in field applications. Brillouin scattering is the result of
the interaction between optical and sound waves in optical fibers. Thermally excited
acoustic waves (phonons) produce a periodic modulation of the refractive index.
Brillouin scattering occurs when light propagating in the fiber is diffracted backward by
this moving grating, giving rise to a frequency-shifted component by a phenomenon
similar to the Doppler shift. This process is called spontaneous Brillouin scattering.
Acoustic waves can also be generated by injecting in the fiber two counter-propagating
waves with a frequency difference equal to the Brillouin shift. Through electrostriction,
these two waves will give rise to a traveling acoustic wave that reinforces the phonon
population. This process is called stimulated Brillouin amplification. If the probe signal
consists in a short light pulse and its reflected intensity is plotted against its time of flight
and frequency shift, it will be possible to obtain a profile of the Brillouin shift along the
fiber length.
Sensing Cables
Since the Brillouin frequency shift depends on both the local strain and temperature
of the fiber, the sensor setup will determine the actual sensitivity of the system. For
measuring temperatures, it is sufficient to use a cable designed to shield the optical fibers
from an elongation of the cable. The fiber will therefore remain in its unstrained state
and the frequency shifts can be unambiguously assigned to temperature variations.
Measuring distributed strains requires a specially designed sensor. A mechanical
coupling between the sensor and the host structure along the whole length of the fiber
has to be guaranteed. The next section will introduce different cable designs to measure
strain and temperature in different applications.
Traditional fiber optic cable design aims to the best possible protection of the fiber
itself from any external influence. In particular, it is necessary to shield the optical fiber
from external humidity, side pressures, crushing and longitudinal strain applied to the
cable. These designs have proven very effective in guaranteeing the longevity of optical
fibers used for communication and they can be used as sensing elements for monitoring
temperatures in the –40°C to +80°C range, in conjunction with Brillouin or Raman
monitoring systems. For Brillouin scattering systems, it is important to guarantee that
the optical fiber does not experience any strain that could be misinterpreted as a
temperature change due to the cross-sensitivity between strain and temperature. On the
other hand, the strain sensitivity of Brillouin scattering prompts to the use of such
systems for distributed strain sensing, a goal contradicting all experience from
telecommunication cable design, where the exact opposite is required. When sensing
distributed strain it is necessary to simultaneously measure temperature to separate the
two components. This is usually obtained by installing a strain and a temperature
sensing cables in parallel. Some cable design combines the two functions into a single
packaging, or make use of distributed Raman sensing for temperature monitoring.
Figure 1 illustrates several distributed strain sensing cables.
Data Management and Visualization Software
The main functions of data management software are aimed to measure
distributed sensors automatically and process the large amount of data automatically to
detect and localize the undesired events. The operator can view in real time the sensors’
measurement history in graphical form (as in the example of Figure 2). Software is also
able to trigger alerts (message, mail and phone call) and show warnings on the display.
Warnings can be generated for different types of events, including: strain, temperature,
SMARTProfile: SMARTape: Hydro&Geo Cable:
Embedding and survace installation on smoth surfaces, embedding in soil or shotcrete
mounting on concrete such as steel
Figure 1. Examples of distributed strain sensing cables.
Figure 2. Examples User Interface for distributed monitoring of a tunnel (San Salvatore Tunnel,
see below for details), colors indicate level of strain recorded as a function of position. Two sections are
instrumented in this case.
leakage and cracks. The software is able to combine measurements from different
sensing cables, to obtain complex results, such as temperature compensated strains.
Another data analysis module is dedicated to the detection of cracks from distributed
strain data [4]. The software stores all information related to a sensor in a single data-
base structure. All data can be easily accessed from third-party software for further
analysis or integration in SCADA systems.
APPLICATION EXAMPLES
San Salvatore Tunnel
A portion of the concrete lining of the San Salvatore tunnel collapsed in June 2017
due to water accumulation (see Figure 3). To enable prevention of similar events, it was
decided to install distributed fiber optic sensors on the tunnel liner for a continuous,
remote and automatic monitoring.
Figure 3. Local collapse of the San Salvatore Tunnel vault.
Figure 4. SMARTProfile sensor installation on the tunnel lining.
The A2 motorway, so-called Gotthard route, is one of the most important north-
south transport arteries in Europe and one of Switzerland’s busiest motorways.
Thousands of car and lorry drivers use the route on a daily basis, which runs from Basle
via Lucerne, then through the Gotthard tunnel to Lugano and continues on the Italian
side in the direction of Milan. This heavily traffic stressed route passes through the San
Salvatore Tunnel in Ticino.
The tunnel built in 1968 is currently under restoration and this represents a
challenge for the two 1,730 m long twin-lane bores, particularly regarding the
construction materials used at that time. Due to water penetration accumulated behind
the concrete lining, a portion of the lining along the fast lane collapsed on June 2017.
Immediately following that event the Swiss Federal Roads Office defined urgent
measures deemed to mitigate the risk that a similar event could be repeated elsewhere
in the tunnel. Among all the urgent safety measures to be taken it was decided to install
distributed fiber optic sensors onto the tunnel liner for a continuous and automatic
monitoring of the tunnel structural condition.
Two lines of distributed fiber optic sensors are now tightly affixed onto the tunnel
lining and allow detection and localisation every 1 meter of concrete lining deformation
and cracks formation due to any hydrostatic pressure behind the lining (Figure 4). The
sensing cable is glued to the concrete suface along the whole length, allowig continuous
transfer of strain from concrete to the sensing fiber. In case of cracks, the sensor partially
debonds and provides evidence of the crack formation through the apparition of a
localized strain peak. The monitoring system allows a fully automatic and continuous
monitoring of the tunnel integrity and provides a rapid and effective response to
potential defects and failure/collapse, thus increasing the safety of the structure and its
users. The monitoring unit, installed in the control room at the entrance of the tunnel,
performs a measurement automatically every 15 minutes approximatelly. The recorded
strains are compared to a baseline and significant variations are immediatelly reported
via email to the responsible engineers. The effects of temperature variations, both
seasonal and daily, are compensated using a temperature sensing cable installed in an
existing cable tray. An example of result is illustrated in figure 5. For most of the
sections under exam, approximately 250m long, the strain variations are in the order of
100-200 microstrains and well correlated with temperature variations.
Figure 5. Strain variations in a localized section of the San Salvatore Tunnel. Strain peaks are
correlated with small crack mouvements.
At some locations strain peak are clearly visible and indicative of small crack
mouvements. Since craks produce a very concentrated strain, the recorded values are
very high, even if the cracks only open by a fraction of mm. The data analysis software
is able to identify and localize the onset of new cracks that were not previously
identified.
Barcelona High-Speed Rail Tunnel
The main aim of the monitoring in this project is to provide a distributed system
able to increase knowledge on the structural behaviors. The main monitoring parameter
is average strains distribution in five longitudinal lines, two on the side walls and one
on the floor, between the two rail lines. This system was installed in 2010. In order to
perform automatic and centralized monitoring of about 12km of SMARTprofile sensor
divided in several sections, the client decided to install the DiTeSt reading unit with a
16 channels optical switch. Measurements are carried out automatically and
continuously.
As shown in Figure 6, the sensors are installed in a broken line pattern connecting
to both the tunnel lining and the vertical support columns. In this way, the relative
movements between the two can be detected and localized.
Figure 6. Sensor installation in the high-speed rail tunnel in Spain.
Penstock in Switzerland
During a normal inspection, one expert detected a crack in a penstock located in
the Swiss Alps. This crack was located in a horizontal armored section of an
underground penstock. This started a complete non-destructive test of the 200m long
section, which revealed that no welds were 100% free of micro-cracks. This can be
explained by a landslide that occurred in the surrounding land at a speed of about 0.5
mm/year. It was therefore decided to seal all welds with an elastic strip made of rubber
and capable of up to 300% elongation. These rubber strips have been glued on each
weld, including those with no cracks.
To allow continuous monitoring of this section and of the welds it was decided
to implement a monitoring system based on conventional sensors (measuring pressure
and flow around the penstock), but also a distributed strain sensing system installed
along the whole disturbed length [5]. Four lines of sensing cables were installed inside
the penstock as visible in Figure 11. An additional sensor line was installed in a nearby
inspection gallery that is also experiencing cracking.
The system has been in operation for three years and the resulting data is
continuously assessed according to a pre-defined protocol to identify any new behavior
that could be indicative of crack movements [6]. An example of data visualization is
presented in Figure 12. The vertical lines represent areas of higher strain. It can be
noticed that those lines are continuous over the whole time period, indicating that no
new high strain area has appeared.
Figure 7. Penstock equipped with four lines of longitudinal strain sensing cables. The white
circumferential strips are the sealing rubber bands.
Figure 8. Pseudo color plot of strain versus time (vertical) and position (horizontal).
Courtesy of HYDRO Exploitation SA [6].
CONCLUSIONS
The use of a distributed fiber optic monitoring system, allows continuous
monitoring and management of tunnels, increasing their safety and allowing the owner
to take informed decisions on the operations and maintenance. The presented
monitoring system and the application examples shown in this paper demonstrate how
it is possible to obtain information on the tunnel state and conditions. In particular, a
distributed fiber optic system allows continuous monitoring of strain along the whole
length of the tunnel. Distributed strain monitoring allows the early detection of
deformations and cracks, enabling an intervention. This is a useful tool for on-demand
inspection and maintenance. In general, distributed strain/deformation and temperature
sensing is a useful technology that ideally complements the current monitoring and
inspection activities, allowing a denser acquisition of operational and safety parameters.
To achieve the above-mentioned goals and take full advantage of the described sensing
technology, it is a fundamental requirement, however, to select and appropriately install
adequate sensing cables, adapted to the specific sensing need.
REFERENCES
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2. Dunnicliff, J., G. Green. 1993. “Geotechnical instrumentation for monitoring field performance”.
John Wiley & Sons.
3. Dakin, J. 2006. “Handbook of Optoelectronics”, Volume3, Chapter 1. CRC press.
4. Glisic, B., D. Inaudi. 2012. “Development of method for in-service crack detection based on
distributed fiber optic sensors”. Structural Health Monitoring 11.2: pp 161-171.
5. Inaudi D. 2019. “Distributed Optical Fiber Sensors for Strain and Deformation Monitoring of
Pipelines and Penstocks” Geotechnical Engineering Journal of the SEAGS & AGSSEA Vol. 50 No.
1 March 2019 ISSN 0046-5828.
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