The latest monitoring and risk assessment methodologies are combined with theoretical and numerical approaches to achieve a new, more reliable and faster methodology.
Geofit employs a compact Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) array solution for real-time 3D mapping of underground utilities. It relies on a massive antenna array with two polarizations, providing a huge amount of data, thus dramatically increasing the detection performance and the level of accuracy of the survey.
We are also innovating when it comes to Structural Health Monitoring. To know the health and safety of a building, building structure is monitored by proper sensors, radars and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to gather reliable and useful data. Such data, once gathered, is broadcasted via Wi-Fi/LAN connection to the data centre where it is finally filtered and analysed. This allows achieving a numerical model showing the current dynamic behaviour of the building.
Structural building monitoring
Use of Ground Based Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (GBInSAR) for SHM
Knowledge & IP
Partner: SIART
Description
The Innovation
The Geofit Approach
Where will be it tested?
Description
Structural building monitoring. The technology of GBInSAR will be applied to building retrofitting scenarios with the aim to investigate the buildings’ stability during the drilling and digging phases.
The Innovation
The structural health monitoring of buildings requires instrumentation. Typically discrete point accelerometers or continuous (3D) fiber optic cabling is installed. Both require access to the structure, installation by professionals, and the acquisition of data from discrete points to aggregate and assess what is happening on the structure. A camera/radar-based GBInSAR approach (when feasible given appropriate standoff distance and line of sight on structure) enables a 3D capture of the structure with one instrument and without any direct access/disruption to the structure. Installation and data acquisition costs are dramatically reduced in such scenarios.
The Geofit Approach
Two challenges of GBInSAR for building SHM during geothermal drilling are being addressed
- 2D Spatial resolution: the target position is represented with range-azimuth coordinates → the bidimensional resolution can lead to geometrical ambiguities, poor resolution over vertical surfaces
- Phase wrap if displacement between two consecutive measurement is larger than λ/4 ≈ 1 mm → maximum detectable velocity ≈ 10 cm/h
Two approaches to solve these challenges are being worked on - Vertical MIMO antenna + circular trajectory data analysis: PRO: fast data acquisition, CON: new hardware/software development required
- Multi-baseline trajectory: PRO: only software development needed, CON: very slow data acquisition unless a new acquisition strategy is evaluated
Where will be it tested?
Structural identification conducted at Perugia. Opportunity taken to utilize and process data from Genova Bridge Collapse post-event monitoring data via IDSGEO GBInSAR.
Methodology to apply SHM to Geothermal retrofitting
Knowledge & IP
Partner: SIART & R2M
Description
The Innovation
The Geofit Approach
Where will be it tested?
Description
Knowledge and information related to the use of Structural Monitoring technologies for the monitoring of structures during geothermal retrofitting.
The Innovation
Geothermal retrofitting and structural health monitoring are typically decoupled / are not two disciplines that generally come together on projects. SHM is typically thought of for large-scale projects on critical structures (e.g. bridges, damaged churches, etc.). Given improvements in technologies and their availability (an iPhone can be a sensor) it is more and more possible to reduce the risk / to have information about the response and state of a structure during drilling operations (induced vibrations). This can reduce on barrier and insurance related costs for drilling – especially in urban areas.
The Geofit Approach
Applying the body of knowledge in the SHM community to geothermal retrofitting. Taking that knowledge and creating a mapping of scenarios where SHM can be considered and mapping of technologies / techniques that can be utilized in those scenarios. The end result is to empower retrofitting stakeholders with the knowledge to make an informed decision related the consideration of SHM as a risk-reduction measure for drilling operations.
Where will be it tested?
Decision making process applied to pilots / part of workshops / IDDS method.
Interferometric radar for stability monitoring
Method and algorithm for detecting underground utilities
Knowledge & IP
Partner: IDSGEO
Description
The Innovation
The Geofit Approach
Where will be it tested?
Description
Analysis of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is the most complex argument for this technology to date and requires a widest expertise. This result concern the research, design and development of an algorithm capable of automatically detecting most of the findings a GPR expert user will get during his/her analysis.
The Innovation
The current common practice is the observation of single radargram, B-scan maps, and the recognition by a human operator of hyperbolic patterns generated by the presence of an object in the underground in the radar map. This is no longer an applicable methodology, since novel GPR equipment are able to collect tens of radar B-scan per swath and the acquisition speed allows to cover tens of km in a day: the manual analysis would last too long. An automatic analysis procedure is therefore necessary, where the intervention of the human operator could only be relegated to observing the general results, to edit and complete the detected utility network, and to infer which are the few doubtful areas where the automatic procedure did not have a clear outcome.
The Geofit Approach
The new algorithm that was developed in GEOFIT replicates the “human perception” when analysing GPR data; it has been tested on data coming from some operational sites and was proven capable of detecting more than 80% of pipes with respect to the interpretation done by an expert operator. This remarkable result needs to be further validated during the project
Where will be it tested?
The algorithm is tested on data coming from trial sites where ground truth information are available. Concerning Geofit, data colected on Perugia demo site were used to confirm the performance of the algorithm.
