Loughborough University develops landslide technology with British Geological Survey
Engineers at Loughborough University have received further funding to investigate the development of an innovative early-warning sensor for the detection of landslides, in collaboration with scientists at the British Geological Survey (BGS).
The one-year project, which is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is being led by Dr Neil Dixon, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering. He is working with Dr Matthew Spriggs from Loughborough University, along with Richard Ogilvy and Philip Meldrum, from the BGS.
The research is a follow on from The Acoustic Real-Time Monitoring System (ALARMS) project, which ran from November 2005 – May 2009, which developed and investigated the performance of a rigorous practical early warning system for slopes.
“Thousands of people worldwide are killed each year due to slope failures,” said Dr Dixon.
“As well as the human cost in developing countries, where landslides can be caused by acts of nature including earthquakes and severe rainfall, there are also potential economic costs in developed countries, with a device such as this enabling timely maintenance of critical infra-structure.”
“Loughborough University, in partnership with the British Geological Survey, is investigating producing a low cost acoustic sensor which we hope will serve the needs of a range of markets.”
“Current devices available for the early detection of slope failures are costly and technically limited and we feel that the production of a sensor which is affordable for a wide range of users could save hundreds of lives.”
The device gauges the stability of slopes by using a sensor which is able to pick up the high frequency sounds that come from soil particles moving underground.
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