Abstract

Facing increasingly large and discontinuous structural evolution under the influence of extensive mining activities, some traditional geophysical technical methods of monitoring overburden deformation have become of restricted use. As an advanced sensing technology, the distributed optical fiber sensor has been introduced into rock deformation monitoring by virtue of its good adaptability and high precision. In this paper, an overburden stratum deformation monitoring experiment was performed within a physical model test to explore the deformation characteristics of mining-induced overburden stratum based on distributed optical fiber sensing. The results indicate that distributed optical fiber monitoring is effective, and the Brillouin frequency shift (BFS) variation distribution reflects every aspect of the space-time and movement laws of the overburden stratum. The comparison of measurements of the distributed optical fiber, fiber Bragg gratings, and dial gauges proved the feasibility and reliability and revealed the ability of optical fiber measurement to monitor large-scale macroscopic deformation, and capture subtle deformation along the entire overburden stratum. More importantly, the BFS variation distribution presents a three-step form, which explicitly identifies the zoning development of overburden stratum. In turn, a conceptual model for describing the overburden deformation process is provided; it illustrates the inversion mechanism of the BFS variation distribution in reaction to the typical overburden deformation structure. This study aims to provide a theoretical and methodological foundation for the application of distributed optical fiber sensing (DOFS) measurement in mining ground control research.

Sensing the earth crustal deformation with nano-strain resolution fiber-optic sensors

Qingwen Liu, Zuyuan He, and Tomochika Tokunaga
Opt. Express 23(11) A428-A436 (2015)

Brillouin frequency shift error estimation formula for distributed optical fiber sensing technology based on Brillouin scattering

Lijuan Zhao, Yonghui Chen, Zhiniu Xu, Xuzhe Zhang, and Quanyu Mou
Appl. Opt. 61(15) 4354-4362 (2022)

Fiber Bragg grating displacement sensor based on synchronous deformation sensing for real-time monitoring of a tunnel lining

Heyi Cai, Xiangpeng Xiao, Qingguo Song, Qizhen Sun, and Zhijun Yan
Appl. Opt. 62(31) 8299-8307 (2023)

Vibration monitoring of a helicopter blade model using the optical fiber distributed strain sensing technique

Daichi Wada, Hirotaka Igawa, and Tokio Kasai
Appl. Opt. 55(25) 6953-6959 (2016)

Distributed curvature sensing based on a bending loss-resistant ring-core fiber

Li Shen, Hao Wu, Can Zhao, Lei Shen, Rui Zhang, Weijun Tong, Songnian Fu, and Ming Tang
Photon. Res. 8(2) 165-174 (2020)