Test on application of distributed fiber optic sensing technique into soil slope monitoring

Brillouin optical time-domain reflectometer (BOTDR), a newly developed distributed fiber optic sensing technique, has been proved to be a very suitable and useful technique for monitoring and early warning of structural engineering by laboratory tests and practical projects due to its unique functions, such as distributing, long distance, anti-electromagnetic interference, waterproof, etc. However, its application to geotechnical engineering, especially soil-slope engineering, has been less carried out due to the complexity of the characteristics of geotechnical materials in the field. In this paper, BOTDR technique is applied to monitor the deformation of a laboratory soil-slope model in small scale in order to test the feasibility and early-warning characteristics of this technique with monitoring the deformation of soil slope. Different types of optical fibers are planted directly in the soil-slope model or bonded to geotextiles and geogrids that are planted in the fillings of the test model. Strain measurements of the model slope under various loads are obtained by BOTDR. By data processing and analysis, the abnormal strains can be obtained distributively, and the position of the abnormal strains can be located as well. The results show much valuable information for applications of BOTDR technique into soil-slope engineering. The test proves that the BOTDR technique can be used to ensure the stability of artificial soil slope and is useful for monitoring and early warning of the artificial soil-slope engineering.