SMILAND: Innovative integrated Systems for Monitoring and assessment of high rIsk LANDslides

This Project is focused on the development of an integrated monitoring system to be used in case of rockfall for hazard assessment and mitigation purposes by using fiber optic sensors (FOS) and more conventional instrumentation.
Different types of sensor such as extensometers, GPS, laser systems, tiltmeters, or other instruments for deformations and vibrations measurement, are commonly used in landslide monitoring. Extensometers, tiltmeters and geophones are generally reliable instruments, but they often provide high noise, low accuracy data and are strongly affected by lightning and electromagnetic fields. In this framework, FOS can potentially provide high accuracy data; moreover they are free from such flaws, even if not yet so common used. If a FOS-based system is used in rockfall monitoring, besides the deformation, it can also provide data about vibrations induced by rock fracturing that are related to landslide activity, even before the collapse.
The project will take care of both design and implementation of the FOS-based sensor. Numerical modeling will be carried out for different FOS types to simulate their behavior and performances and optimize the sensor design and installation, so that reasonable thresholds for early warning purposes can be defined. The following testing phase will consist in two steps: laboratory testing and field experiments. In laboratory tests, different rock samples will be used to verify the measurement sensitivity related to applied normal and shear stress, vibrations and temperature changes. In the field testing phase, some experiments will be carried out in quarries in order to investigate the scale effects on the sensors behavior and evaluate the accuracy of the measurements. During these tests conventional monitoring techniques and instrumentations, such as topographical total station GPS, tiltmeter, extensometer, geophones etc. will be also used for validation purposes. Field testing phase will be completed by application on a natural slope (Cinque Torri Group, Cortina D’Ampezzo) in order to assess the influence of climatic conditions, logistics and other external factors on the reliability of the proposed technology.