Innovative Surface Displacement Monitoring System for Sustainable Highway Slope Management

In the operation and maintenance of expressways, slope disaster monitoring has always been a key aspect. Traditional monitoring methods, limited by high equipment costs, often focus only on key slopes, leaving many potential disaster-prone locations outside the monitoring scope. The sudden nature of slope disasters exacerbates their harm. Once they occur, they often cause serious casualties and huge economic losses.

To effectively address this challenge, Fengtu has developed a Surface Displacement Monitoring System based on "preliminary observation" and "long-term monitoring" to protect the safety of slopes.

The core of it is the millimeter-wave radar. The millimeter-wave radar can achieve an accuracy of 3 - 5 millimeters, enabling it to accurately monitor the deformation of the slope surface; with a sampling frequency as high as 10 times per second, it ensures the timely tracking of the dynamic changes of the slope; the monitoring distance can reach up to 1 kilometer, allowing for wide coverage of large slope areas; and it is low-cost, making up for the shortcoming of high costs of previous monitoring equipment. By organically combining the millimeter-wave radar with other monitoring devices such as GNSS, a complete slope monitoring solution has been constructed, realizing all-weather real-time monitoring of expressway slope disasters from points to surfaces, in an all-round and low-cost manner.

In the implementation of the specific monitoring plan, the first stage is the "preliminary observation" stage. For those locations with potential slope disaster risks, the millimeter-wave radar is first used for preliminary observation. Usually, only 1 - 2 millimeter-wave radars need to be deployed to effectively observe the surface displacement of the entire slope. By collecting and analyzing the data at this stage, the deformation trend of the slope can be clearly understood, and its danger can be accurately evaluated, laying a solid foundation for the subsequent slope prevention and control project planning and long-term monitoring work.

When it is determined through preliminary observation that there is a relatively large displacement of the slope, it enters the "long-term monitoring" stage. At this time, a variety of monitoring devices, such as GNSS, millimeter-wave radar, rain gauges, deep displacement meters, and crack meters, will be comprehensively used according to the unique engineering geological conditions of different slopes to conduct continuous and in-depth monitoring of the slope and collect various dynamic data of the slope in a timely and comprehensive manner.

The introduction of the millimeter-wave radar into the long-term monitoring plan not only reduces the total project cost but also, due to its characteristic of corroborating with GNSS Beidou monitoring data, reduces the false alarm rate of the equipment, making the monitoring results more accurate and reliable, providing a strong guarantee for the long-term stability of expressway slopes and ensuring the safe operation of transportation infrastructure and the safety of people's lives and property.