Geotechnical monitoring of the Eppenberg Tunnel
Challenge
When work started in 2015 on the 3,114-meter Eppenberg Tunnel, it was clearly an important moment for the canton of Soleura in Switzerland. The tunnel was designed to link the towns of Aarau and Olten and decongest traffic on one of the most transited railway routes in the country, used by 550 trains every day. But an infrastructure project of this type required permanent and reliable geotechnical monitoring to detect any incident that might affect the works.
Solution
Contractor Terra Vermessungen, one of the leading monitoring companies in Switzerland, opted to solve the challenge with a Worldsensing wireless system. Worldsensing allows Terra to gather readings from the geotechnical instruments used across the Eppenberg Tunnel works. The remote monitoring system covers 55 load anchors and five extensometers, all controlled from a central gateway outside the tunnel. The system’s wireless operation and low power consumption offered a minimum-impact way of guaranteeing that the system does not interfere with construction work.
Benefits
Worldsensing’s robustness, flexibility, ease of expansion and low power consumption have given Terra a highly efficient monitoring system. The system integrates seamlessly with the many geotechnical instruments that Terra uses for measurements. And by using Worldsensing software to automate the supervision of sensor measurements, Terra has been able to eliminate most manual readings, saving the company’s staff from having to travel to site to gather data. This has cut the cost and the time needed for supervision. Terra’s experience with Worldsensing has been such a success that it was featured in the prestigious engineering magazine Ernst & Sohn.
Are you planning a project?
Get in touch with us to share your needs and project requirements. We are experts in engineering and IoT and are happy to help.