Developments of Advanced Highway Slope Stability Monitoring Technologies And Guidelines Of Warning Systems
A significant part of Taiwan is covered by mountains, most of the roadway systems are located in hilly areas. At the same time, Taiwan is rich in precipitation, serious landslides or loss of foundation materials often occur after rainfalls. The instability of the roadway slopes directly affects the safety of the highway users. There have been research efforts to establish policies for handling the safety of roadway slopes and some of the research works are underway. Many important sections of roadways have been monitored and analyzed either due to previous failure or signs of potential failure. The results of instrumentation have been used as a basis for the management of these roadways. The objectives of this two-year research project are to: (1) advance our capabilities in slope stability monitoring; (2) assure that the instrumentation data substantially reflect the actual conditions of the slope; (3) improve cost effectiveness of monitoring system; and (4) establish guidelines in developing a warning system that incorporates the instrumentation system. The execution of the first-year project started in April and ended in December of 2002. Major tasks include: (1) literature collection and organization; (2) evaluation of conventional slope stability monitoring systems; (3) laboratory developments of fiber optic and TDR sensors; (4) preliminary field implementation of fiber optic and TDR sensor systems, and (5) development of guidelines for the establishment of warning systems. A ground movement monitoring system based on fiber optic gratings has been developed. A series of TDR technology based sensor devices which include a ground disruption movement sensor, an extensometer, a ground water level sensor, and a rainfall metering device have also been developed. The warning system development which included classification of landslides types, case histories on the use of a warning system, methodology of establishing a warning system have been completed. This report describes details of the background, contents and accomplishments of the research in the first year.