Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/R68573/01
Title:	OFFSTUNN: Optical Fibre Sensors for Remote Tunnel Displacement Monitoring
Principal Investigator:	Rogers, Professor CDF
Other Investigators:	Chapman, Professor DN Kukureka, Dr SN
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:	Infraco Sub-Surface Ltd London Underground Ltd Smart Fibres Ltd SOLDATA
Department:	Civil Engineering
Organisation:	University of Birmingham
Scheme:	LINK
Starts:	27 May 2002	Ends:	26 May 2005	Value (£):	355,992
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Optical Devices & Subsystems
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Construction Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
Smart Fibres (OFS designer and manufacturer), London Underground Ltd (an end user of the research), Sol Data (a monitoring contractor which installs the instruments and produces the data for the clients in a user-friendly form), the University of Birmingham (with expertise in tunnel and subsurface ground displacements, the mechanical performance of optical fibres and composite materials, and experimental, numerical and field research techniques) and Aston University (providing unparalleled expertise in the design and inscription of fibre Bragg gratings for optical fibre sensors) are to come together as a mufti-disciplinary team to collaborate on a truly interdisciplinary research project. There are major advances to be made in each of the disciplines as a result of the p[roject and all are well placed to make immediate use of the results of the work as they become available. The primary driver for the research is the considerable scope to improve upon the accuracy, precision, reliability and economy of the currently available monitoring systems, thereby removing the need for manual monitoring as a check on the automatic readings, and as a result to move the concept of monitoring on from a 'safety critical' philosophy (i.e. one that gives warnings of impending problems) to one of long-term asset management. A prototype of the proposed system, based on pultruded rods attached at discrete points around a tunnel lining to measure settlement, rotation and distortion of the tunnel during adjacenet construction works, will be developed following element and full-scale testing, encompassing a wide range of variables, in the laboratory and will be tested in a live tunnel. Data management and visualisation software will facilitate intelligent and immediate use of the results.
Key Findings
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Potential use in non-academic contexts
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Impacts
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Sectors submitted by the Researcher
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Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website:	http://www.bham.ac.uk