Wireless Monitoring–Based Real-Time Analysis and Early-Warning Safety System for Deep and Large Underground Caverns

Abstract

Large-scale underground cavern projects are complicated in terms of construction technology, engineering quality, and safety. Moreover, the timely collection of vital construction information is difficult due to the complexity of the data and poor timeliness. In order to ensure the completion of construction progress and construction safety, this paper developed a real-time analysis and early-warning safety system for deep large underground caverns to automatically generate the early-warning level and corresponding emergency plans. There were two innovations involved in this system. On the one hand, a wireless monitoring and transmission platform is proposed to collect time-variable information from underground caverns. On the other hand, an early-warning safety framework is advanced, which contains abnormal recognition and early-warning information examination and verification, to support the whole-process management of integral safety for underground caverns. The system has been implemented successfully in an underground cavern construction project for Lianghekou Hydropower Station in China. The application demonstrates the proposed integration technology of real-time analysis and safety early warning can rapidly recognize abnormalities from massive monitoring data and provides a more accurate and reliable stepwise evaluation process for early warning.