As a warning system to protect workers at the base of an unstable slope, a CR10 Measurement and Control System and four string potentiometers were installed. The CR10 measured the potentiometers, which straddled the main fissure, every minute and compared the results against earlier recorded values. If displacement exceeded preset tolerances, the CR10 alerted personnel to evacuate the area. Displacement values were then transmitted to the base station computer to determine a course of action. The system was ideal because it could withstand environmental extremes, operate from battery power, and transmit data by radio to both an alarm control station and a computer base station. In the slope’s history, catastrophic failures were precursed by gradually rising rates of slippage, so the system had to detect, record, and respond to both short- and long-term (cumulative) movements.

Case Study Summary

Application

Monitoring long-term slippage and short-term slope failures

Location

Idaho, USA

Measured Parameters

Displacement across surface fissures

Controlled Devices

Alarm system


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