Design and Application of a Field Sensing System for Ground Anchors in Slopes

• Main Authors: Hyo Seon Park, Jong Moon Kim, Jihoon Lee, Se Woon Choi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2013-03-01
• Series: Sensors
• Subjects: strain sensing; wireless sensor node; residual tensile force; ground anchor
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1424-8220/13/3/3739

In a ground anchor system, cables or tendons connected to a bearing plate are used for stabilization of slopes. Then, the stability of a slope is dependent on maintaining the tension levels in the cables. So far, no research on a strain-based field sensing system for ground anchors has been reported. Therefore, in this study, a practical monitoring system for long-term sensing of tension levels in tendons for anchor-reinforced slopes is proposed. The system for anchor-reinforced slopes is composed of: (1) load cells based on vibrating wire strain gauges (VWSGs), (2) wireless sensor nodes which receive and process the signals from load cells and then transmit the result to a master node through local area communication, (3) master nodes which transmit the data sent from sensor nodes to the server through mobile communication, and (4) a server located at the base station. The system was applied to field sensing of ground anchors in the 62 m-long and 26 m-high slope at the side of the highway. Based on the long-term monitoring, the safety of the anchor-reinforced slope can be secured by the timely applications of re-tensioning processes in tendons.