INTRODUCING

NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR GEOTECHNICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SENSING & MONITORING

A Berkeley Short Course

A two-day short course: Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd January 2021

Where: Online

why this course

The pace of technological innovation and scientific progress has led to new technologies to monitor civil infrastructure and the environment. These technologies provide, in many cases, unprecedented opportunities for sensing and understanding of the way civil infrastructure responds to natural hazards, environmental stressors such as climate change, and human activities. This 2-day online short course will provide a review of some of these technologies that are about to, or are already impacting the way we design, maintain, or operate geo-infrastructure and the way we manage risk. The instructors have significant expertise in the technologies presented and will outline the principles of operation and the advantages and disadvantages, as well as share examples of projects where these technologies have been successfully implemented.

Instructors (see bios)

Dimitrios Zekkos, PhD, PE

University of California at Berkeley (short course lead)



Robert Kayen, PhD

USGS and University of California at Berkeley (instructor)


Kenichi Soga, PhD, FREng, FASCE, FICE

University of California (instructor)


Kenneth Johnson, PhD, CEG, PE

WSP USA (instructor)


Course Objectives

The objective of this course is to introduce a wide range of new technologies for geo-infrastructure monitoring and how they fit in a geotechnical engineer’s toolbox. Specific course objectives:

  1. Introduce the concepts of digital twins and the new observational method

  2. Understand the principles of operation of each technology and its advantages and limitations

  3. Review examples of applications of the technologies in actual geotechnical projects

  4. Provide guidance on how one could implement these technologies in engineering practice.

course outline

Part 1: Introduction and The Big Picture of Geotechnical Infrastructure Monitoring

    • Introduction – Welcome

    • Review of Current and New Technologies and Hierarchy– Digital Twins and data management frameworks – New Observational Method

    • Means for Sensing

      • Satellites

      • Aerial

      • Terrestrial

      • UAV

      • In-situ


Part 2: New Technologies for geotechnical monitoring: Remote and non-contact Sensing

  • UAVs and Optical data collection

  • Structure-from-Motion

  • LiDAR

  • RTK GPS

  • Data Analysis using 3D models

  • Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

  • Infrared - Principles and Applications



Part 3: New Technologies for geotechnical monitoring: Embedded Sensing

  • Wireless Sensing applications – Principles and Applications

  • The ShapeArray

  • Distributed Fiber Optics


Part 4: Conclusion

Putting it all together–how to optimize your design using monitoring data



Course SCHEDULE

The course will be offered in real-time (synchronous) from 9:00 to 17:00 Pacific time and includes time for discussion with the instructors. Participants will also be able to listen to the lectures in different time zones, in recorded format (asynchronous). The recordings will be available to all participants for viewing for one week.

DAY 1: 9:00-17:00 PST

Part 1: Introduction and The Big Picture of Geotechnical Infrastructure Monitoring

9:00-9:15: Introduction – Welcome (15 min) (Zekkos, Kayen, Soga)

9:15-10:00: Review of Current and New Technologies and Hierarchy– Digital Twins and data management frameworks – New Observational Method (45 min) (Soga & Zekkos)

10:00-10:30: Means for Sensing (30 min) (Zekkos)

a. Satellites

b. Aerial

c. Terrestrial

c. UAV

d. In-situ

Part 2: New Technologies for geotechnical monitoring: Remote and non-contact Sensing

10:30-11:30: UAVs and Optical data collection (1 hr) (Zekkos)

11:30-12:30: Structure-from-Motion (1 hr) (Zekkos)

12:30-13:30 - 1 hr break – discussion - chat

13:30-14:00: RTK GPS (Kayen)

14:00-15:00: LiDAR (Kayen)

15:00-16:00: Data Analysis using 3D models (Zekkos)

16:00-16:30 Public Discussion (optional)

16:30-17:00 Office Hours & Consultations (in breakout rooms) (optional)


DAY 2: 9:00-17:00

Part 2: New Technologies for geotechnical monitoring: Remote and non-contact Sensing (Continued)

9:00-10:00: Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) (Kayen)

10:00-11:00 UAV-based Infrared - Principles and Applications (1 hr) (Zekkos)

Part 3: New Technologies for geotechnical monitoring: Embedded Sensing

11:00-12:30Wireless Sensing applications – Principles and Applications (1.5 hr) (Soga)

12:30-13:30 break

13:30-14:30 The ShapeArray (Johnson)

14:30- 16:30 Fiber Optics (Soga)

Part 4: Conclusion

16:30-17:00 Putting it all together–how to optimize your design using monitoring data (1 hr) (Kayen, Soga, Zekkos)

17:00-17:30 Public Discussion (optional)

17:30-18:00 Office Hours & Consultations (in breakout rooms) (optional)

DELIVERABLES

  • 14 hrs of online lectures – Available for real-time during the course delivery as well as non-real-time (i.e., asynchronous). Registered participants will be able to view the presentations for an entire week following the completion of the course through a password-protected website.

  • Course slides

  • Recommended Technical literature for each specific technology/theme

  • Office hours (instructors available for discussion in break-out rooms at the end of each day of course delivery)

COURSE COST

The cost of this two-day course is $985. A limited number of spots are available for students after coordination with the short course leader.

A 10% reduction in cost is provided for 3-4 registrations and a 20% off for 5+ registrations (if paid at the same time during course registration).

COURSE REGISTRATION

Registration deadline is January 15, unless the course becomes fully-booked earlier.

To register and pay for the course please click on the button below.

CONTACT

For questions related to this short course, please contact the short course leader Prof. Dimitros Zekkos (zekkos@berkeley.edu)