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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Geohazards and Georisks
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1541217
This article is part of the Research Topic Prevention, Mitigation, and Relief of Compound and Chained Natural Hazards Volume II View all 12 articles

Experimental study on displacement monitoring of instable highway slope based on MEMS sensors

Provisionally accepted
Di Wu Di Wu 1Taiming Liang Taiming Liang 1Yanxin Yang Yanxin Yang 2*Qingpeng Pei Qingpeng Pei 3,4Yang Yi Yang Yi 4Jianjian Wu Jianjian Wu 4Dan Li Dan Li 4
  • 1 School of Architecture and Transportation Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
  • 2 School of Civil Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan, China
  • 3 Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China
  • 4 School of Architecture and Transportation Engineering，Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Region, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The monitoring of soil displacement during highway slope instability currently faces challenges such as poor stability, low accuracy, and high costs. In this study, a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System (MEMS) sensor is proposed for measuring internal soil displacement during slope movement. A method for converting MEMS-based acceleration signals into displacement data is also developed. To evaluate the applicability of MEMS technology for deep displacement monitoring, an indoor model test was conducted using a highway slope composed of gravelly soil from Jiangxi Province as a case study. Three slope models with varying gravel contents (20%, 40%, and 60%) were designed to simulate displacement caused by slope instability. Displacement data obtained from the MEMS sensors were analyzed and compared with Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) data. The results showed that the average relative errors of vertical displacement for the MEMS sensor compared to PIV at three measurement points in the sliding area were 5.79%, 5.54%, and 5.89% for slopes with 20%, 40%, and 60% gravel content, respectively. Similarly, the average relative errors of horizontal displacement were 6.11%, 5.21%, and 4.73%. These findings indicate that the trends in soil movement within the sliding area correspond to changes in gravel content. Furthermore, the relatively small average relative errors of the MEMS sensor demonstrate its feasibility and potential for deep soil displacement monitoring in slope stability studies.

    Keywords: MEMS sensors1, slope with gravelly soil2, gravel content3, model test4, deep soil displacement5

    Received: 07 Dec 2024; Accepted: 16 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Wu, Liang, Yang, Pei, Yi, Wu and Li. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yanxin Yang, School of Civil Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong, Sichuan, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.