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Interfacial behavior of soil-embedded fiber optic cables with micro-anchors for distributed strain sensing

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Abstract

Accurate deformation monitoring of geotechnical infrastructures using distributed fiber optic sensing requires a strong interfacial bond between strain sensing cables and surrounding soil. Micro-anchors provide a straightforward solution to enhance the interlocking effect at the cable–soil interface, but their anchorage mechanism remains unclear. This paper presents an experimental study on the interfacial behavior of anchored strain sensing cables embedded in soil. A series of pullout tests were conducted to investigate the effect of various factors on interfacial performance, including anchor spacing, anchor diameter, and confining pressure. The test results indicate that the anchor spacing and confining pressure substantially influenced the pullout resistance of anchored cables, while the anchor diameter had a minor effect. In contrast with unanchored cables, anchored cables exhibited strain hardening behavior during the pullout process instead of strain softening. The micro-anchors on cables played a reinforcing role sequentially with increasing pullout displacements, and those closer to the cable head exerted reinforcing effect earlier. Due to the pullout resistance of micro-anchors, the anchored cables have unique step-like strain profiles throughout the pullout tests, and they are not prone to interface decoupling under large deformation conditions. However, for closely spaced micro-anchors, the overlapping of interfacial shear zones led to a loss in the pullout resistance, which becomes insignificant with increasing anchor spacing. This study not only provides improved insight into the interpretation of fiber optic strain measurements but also sheds light on soil–inclusion interaction mechanisms in geotechnical analyses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42225702 and 42077235) and the Open Research Project Program of the State Key Laboratory of Internet of Things for Smart City (University of Macau) (Grant No. SKL-IoTSC(UM)-2021-2023/ORP/GA10/2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, 362 Zhugongshan Bldg, 163 Xianlin Ave, Qixia District, Nanjing, 210023, Jiangsu, China

    Hong-Hu Zhu, Yu-Xin Gao, Dong-Dong Chen & Gang Cheng

  2. Institute of Earth Exploration and Sensing, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, China

    Hong-Hu Zhu

  3. School of Computer Science, North China Institute of Science and Technology, Beijing, 101601, China

    Gang Cheng

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  1. Hong-Hu Zhu
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  4. Gang Cheng
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Contributions

Conceptualization was performed by H-HZ; methodology by D-DC, GC; formal analysis and investigation by Y-XG, H-HZ; writing—original draft preparation—by Y-XG, H-HZ; writing—review and editing—by Y-XG, H-HZ, GC; funding acquisition by H-HZ.

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Correspondence to Yu-Xin Gao.

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Zhu, HH., Gao, YX., Chen, DD. et al. Interfacial behavior of soil-embedded fiber optic cables with micro-anchors for distributed strain sensing. Acta Geotech. 19, 1787–1798 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-01956-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-01956-8

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