A New Type of Device Used on Submarine Landslides Monitoring

Author(s):  
Yongqiang Ge ◽  
Jiawang Chen ◽  
Chen Cao ◽  
Qiaoling Gao ◽  
Peihao Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Submarine landslides in gas hydrate areas are a significant geo-hazard that can cause considerable damage to offshore infrastructures, dramatically change the marine environment and seriously threaten human lives and property. Gas and gas hydrate disassociation was considered to be a main factor inducing submarine landslide. However, the processes and mechanism of submarine landslides caused by gas and gas hydrate dissociation are not clearly understood. Therefore, we design a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer array to study and monitor the deep displacement of submarine landslides. The MEMS accelerometer array consists of several gravity acceleration-sensing units that are connected to an I2C-communication bus. By sensing the three-axis tilt angles, the direction and magnitude of the displacement for a measurement unit can be calculated. In the end, the laboratory model test was designed to verify the operation of the device in landslide monitoring, which demonstrated the capacities of the monitoring system for collecting real-time and in-situ information during the slope failure.

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-16
Author(s):  
Yongqiang Ge ◽  
Jiawang Chen ◽  
Chen Cao ◽  
Jiamin He ◽  
Yan Sheng ◽  
...  

AbstractSubmarine landslides in gas hydrate areas are a significant geo-hazard that can cause considerable damage. The processes and mechanism of submarine landslides caused by gas hydrate dissociation are not clearly understood. Therefore, we designed a micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) accelerometer array to study and monitor the deep displacement of submarine landslides. The MEMS accelerometer array consists of several gravity acceleration-sensing units that are protected and positioned using a flexible circuit board and elastic steel tape, such that all the units are connected to an Inter-Integrated Circuit (IIC) communication bus. By sensing the three-axis tilt angles, the direction and magnitude of the displacement for a measurement unit can be calculated; then, the overall displacement of the array is calculated as the difference in the displacements from the initial values. To ensure the accuracy of the tilt angle and displacement calculation, the calibration and verification test of the single MEMS sensor and sensor array is conducted. The MEMS accelerometer array is verified with respect to its principle and arrangement by a laboratory physical model test, and the initial experimentation demonstrated the capacities of the monitoring system for collecting real-time and in-situ information about the dynamic process and propagation of slope failure.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Portnov ◽  
Kehua You ◽  
Peter Flemings ◽  
Ann Cook ◽  
Mahdi Heidari ◽  
...  

Abstract Submarine landslides are prevalent on the modern-day seafloor, yet an elusive problem is constraining the timing of slope failure. Herein, we present a novel technique for constraining the age of submarine landslides without sediment core dating. Underneath a submarine landslide in the Orca Basin, Gulf of Mexico, in 3D seismic data we map an irregular bottom simulating reflection (BSR), which mimics the geometry of the pre-slide seafloor rather than the modern bathymetry. Based on the observed BSR, we suggest that the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) is currently adjusting to the post-slide sediment temperature perturbations. We apply transient conductive heat flow modeling to constrain the response of the GHSZ to the slope failure, which yields a most likely age of ~8 ka demonstrating that gas hydrate systems can respond to slope failures even on the millennia timescales. We also provide an analytical approach to rapidly determine the age of submarine slides at any location.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Ziqiang Ren ◽  
Jiawang Chen ◽  
Qiaoling Gao ◽  
Peihao Zhang ◽  
Kai He ◽  
...  

Precise pressure core motion, including translation and rotation, is the basis and core part of the Analysis and Transfer System of Natural Gas Hydrate Pressure Core, which is crucial to nondestructive analyses, core cutting, and transfer. This paper mainly proposes a driving device, whereby a pressure core, up to 3 m long, can be transferred from pressure core drilling tools to proceed to nondestructive analyses and transferring the cores into other chambers. The lead screw is one of the most important components of this driving device. Therefore, the modal analyses of the lead screw are performed, which can help researchers to analyze the stability of this device. The analyzed data shows that the different positions of the slider have a great impact on the natural frequency of the lead screw. Furthermore, the lead screw with a support slider has a larger natural frequency than that without a support slider. According to data analysis, we can derive that the device with the support slider has a much larger rigidity, which can contribute to the stability of the device. To verify the feasibility of this device, the deformation of the lead screw was tested by the Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometer array. Experimental results show that the deformation of the lead screw with the support slider is much less than that without the support slider.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 366
Author(s):  
Renato Macciotta ◽  
Michael T. Hendry

Transportation infrastructure in mountainous terrain and through river valleys is exposed to a variety of landslide phenomena. This is particularly the case for highway and railway corridors in Western Canada that connect towns and industries through prairie valleys and the Canadian cordillera. The fluidity of these corridors is important for the economy of the country and the safety of workers, and users of this infrastructure is paramount. Stabilization of all active slopes is financially challenging given the extensive area where landslides are a possibility, and monitoring and minimization of slope failure consequences becomes an attractive risk management strategy. In this regard, remote sensing techniques provide a means for enhancing the monitoring toolbox of the geotechnical engineer. This includes an improved identification of active landslides in large areas, robust complement to in-place instrumentation for enhanced landslide investigation, and an improved definition of landslide extents and deformation mechanisms. This paper builds upon the extensive literature on the application of remote sensing techniques and discusses practical insights gained from a suite of case studies from the authors’ experience in Western Canada. The review of the case studies presents a variety of landslide mechanisms and remote sensing technologies. The aim of the paper is to transfer some of the insights gained through these case studies to the reader.


Symmetry ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 845
Author(s):  
Dongheun Han ◽  
Chulwoo Lee ◽  
Hyeongyeop Kang

The neural-network-based human activity recognition (HAR) technique is being increasingly used for activity recognition in virtual reality (VR) users. The major issue of a such technique is the collection large-scale training datasets which are key for deriving a robust recognition model. However, collecting large-scale data is a costly and time-consuming process. Furthermore, increasing the number of activities to be classified will require a much larger number of training datasets. Since training the model with a sparse dataset can only provide limited features to recognition models, it can cause problems such as overfitting and suboptimal results. In this paper, we present a data augmentation technique named gravity control-based augmentation (GCDA) to alleviate the sparse data problem by generating new training data based on the existing data. The benefits of the symmetrical structure of the data are that it increased the number of data while preserving the properties of the data. The core concept of GCDA is two-fold: (1) decomposing the acceleration data obtained from the inertial measurement unit (IMU) into zero-gravity acceleration and gravitational acceleration, and augmenting them separately, and (2) exploiting gravity as a directional feature and controlling it to augment training datasets. Through the comparative evaluations, we validated that the application of GCDA to training datasets showed a larger improvement in classification accuracy (96.39%) compared to the typical data augmentation methods (92.29%) applied and those that did not apply the augmentation method (85.21%).


Author(s):  
Feng Pan ◽  
Abdoul Kader Maiga ◽  
Po-Hao Adam Huang

The concept of using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) for in-situ corrosion sensing and for long-term applications has been proposed and is currently under development by our research lab. This is a new type of sensing using MEMS technology and, to the knowledge of our team, has not been explored previously. The MEMS corrosion sensor is based on the oxidation of metal nano/micro-particle embedded in elastomeric polymer to form a composite sensing element. The polymer controls the diffusion into and out of the sensor while the corrosion of the metal particles inhibits electrical conduction which is used as the detection signal. The work presented here is based on part of the methods developed for the removal of native and process-induced metal oxides. A major aspect is the study of the swelling dynamics of the polymer matrix (polydimethylsiloxane, PDMS) intended for enhancing material transport of etchants into and reaction products out of the composite during oxide removal. More specifically, the characterization of the swelling of copper particles-PDMS composite samples in liquid solvent baths is presented.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo León ◽  
Christopher Rochelle ◽  
André Burnol ◽  
Carmen Julia Giménez- Moreno ◽  
Tove Nielsen ◽  
...  

<p>The Pan-European gas-hydrate relate GIS database of GARAH project has allowed assessing the susceptibility of seafloor areas affected by hydrate dissociation. This study has been applied as a first step for the hydrate related risk assessment along the European continental margins. Several factors and variables have been taken into account. They have been defined by their relationship with the presence of hydrates below seafloor and weighted depending on the confidence of finding hydrates in this site. The maximum weight (or confidence) has been given to the recovered samples of gas hydrates or hydrate-dissociation evidences such as degassing or liquation structures observed in gravity cores. Seismic indicators of the presence of gas hydrate or hydrocarbon seabed fluid flow such as BSR, blanking acoustic, amplitude anomalies or the presence of geological structures of seabed fluid flow in the neighbouring of the GHSZ have been weighted with a lower value. The theoretical gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) for a standard composition for biogenic gas has been taken into account as another control factor and constrain feature. Seafloor areas out of the theoretical GSHZ have been excluded as potential likelihood to be affected by hydrate dissociation processes. The base of GHSZ has been classified as a critical area for these dissociation processes.</p><p>The proposed methodology analyses the geological hazard by means of the susceptibility assessment, defined by the likelihood of occurrence of hydrate dissociation, collapses, crater-like depressions or submarine landslides over seafloor. The baseline scenario is that gas hydrate occurrence is only possible in seafloor areas where pressure (bathymetry) and seafloor temperature conditions are inside the theoretical GHSZ. Inside GHSZ, the occurrence of gas hydrate is directly related to the presence of its evidences (direct samples of hydrates) or indicators (eg. pore water and velocity anomalies, BSR, gas chimneys, among others), as well as the occurrence of hydrocarbon fluid flow structures inside GHSZ. Finally, the likelihood of the seafloor to be affect gas hydrate dissociation processes will be major at the base of the GHSZ and in the neighbouring of the gas hydrate evidences and indicators. In order to proof this initial hypothesis, a susceptibility assessment has been carried out throughout map algebra in a GIS environment from a density map of evidences and indicators and the Pan-European map of the GHSZ over seafloor. Specifically, it has been conceived as a segmentation in three levels by quantiles resulting of the addition of the density map of evidences and indicators and the weighted map of the GHSZ over seafloor.</p><p> </p><p><strong>Acknowledgment</strong></p><p>GARAH project. GeoERA - GeoE.171.002</p>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Sedore ◽  
Alexandre Normandeau ◽  
Vittorio Maselli

<p>High-latitude fiords are susceptible to hazardous subaerial and submarine slope failures. Recent investigations have shown that past slope failures in fiords of Greenland and Alaska have generated devastating landslide induced tsunamis. Since coastal communities inhabit these high-latitude fiords, it is critical to understand the slope failure recurrence time, their distribution, potential triggers, and ability to generate tsunamis. In this study, we identified > 50 near-surface submarine landslides in Pangnirtung Fiord, eastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, using multibeam bathymetric and sub-bottom profiler data, along with sediment gravity-cores collected in 2019. Morphometric and morphological analyses, along with sedimentological analyses, were carried out on submarine landslide deposits to quantify their spatial and temporal distribution throughout the fiord and to evaluate the factors that may have triggered the slope failures.</p><p>Combining bathymetric with topographic data from unmanned aerial vehicle imagery, we found that most of these landslide deposits are relatively small (~ 0.08 km<sup>2</sup>) and are associated with outwash fans and steep fiord sidewalls. However, since most slope failure head scarps lie between the intertidal zone and ~30 m water depth, they could not be mapped, which makes it challenging to determine the triggers of the submarine slope failures. Radiocarbon dating reveals that most of these surficial landslide deposits are younger than 500 years old and that they were most likely triggered at different times. This finding highlights a high recurrence rate of slope failures within the fiord, suggesting that localised triggers are responsible for slope failures within the fiord, as opposed to widespread, seismically induced triggers which do not occur as frequently in the study area. In addition, the elongated morphology of the landslide deposits and the varying degrees of landslide deposit surface roughness supports localised point-source triggers. Since most landslides are associated with subaerial outwash fans and deltas, we suggest that triggers of these relatively frequent submarine landslides within Pangnirtung Fiord include rapid floodwater input, subaerial debris flows, and sea-ice loading during low tide.</p><p>This research shows that slope failures in a high-latitude fiord are affected by the interaction of numerous subaerial and submarine processes, leading us to speculate that a potential increase in the frequency of subaerial debris flows and river floods due to climate change may increase the recurrence of submarine landslides.<strong> </strong></p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 894 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Khanh Duong Quang ◽  
Huong Vuong Thi ◽  
Anh Luu Van

Multi-axial mechanical systems commonly encounter the problem of vibration while attempting to drive machining systems at high speed. Many effective methods based on feed-forward and feedback control have been proposed and applied for vibration reduction. In order to design controllers all methods require the exact knowledge of system parameters: vibration frequency and damping ratio. In recent years, low-cost Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) accelerometers have been used for many applications in industry. This paper presents the advantage of low cost MEMS accelerometer to identify vibration parameters of mechanical systems in comparison to conventional expensive devices.


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