Slope movement monitoring with optical fiber technology

Recently, early warning systems have gained much more importance in terms of risk management since awareness regarding landslide hazards has increased dramatically. Different instrumentation techniques have used to monitor mass movements. Although all techniques have their own advantages and disadvantages, optical fiber system has certain superiority over others with an incessant data acquisition capability. The main objective of this study is to monitor slope movement regardless of lithology and failure types. Equipment utilized consists of an optical fiber system containing Brillouin Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (BOTDR) and optical fiber cables. The tests show that fiber optical technology could be used as a monitoring tool and is useful in determining slope movement throughout a fiber array. The results of this study are expected to be used in risk assessment studies in hazard prone regions and during the construction and post construction period.