Why Lumidas?
Inadequate monitoring coverage leads to increased uncertainties of how geotechnical performance is evolving over time.
While conventional geotechnical instrumentation such as inclinometers and piezometers provide critical information on dam performance, they are limited in spatiotemporal resolution, increasing uncertainties in between readings and sensors. Remote sensing methods are becoming an increasingly attractive for geotechincal monitoring of tailings storage facilities considering their broad spatial coverage. However, these methods are limited to detecting changes at surface and may become unreliable over periods of construction, a time when monitoring is often at its most critical.
We translate fiber optic sensing data into geotechnical performance indicators.
Lumidas bridges the gap between geotechnical engineers and distributed fiber optic sensing technologies, supporting owners and operators with implementation of distributed fiber optic sensing from project start to end. We provide recommendations on cable selection and installation, working together with owners and operators to optimize the monitoring system over the project duration. By integrating pre-existing collocated sensor data (e.g., strain gauges, thermistors, inclinometers), we help geotechnical engineers get the most out of their fiber optic sensing data by calibrating the data to known measurements. Throughout the monitoring programme, we provide detailed data interpretation and reporting services to inform geotechnical performance.
Our services brochure outlines our capabilities to support geotechnical engineers, owners and operators with implementing recent advances in fibre optic sensing at their site.
📄 Download our brochure to learn more.
Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is an emerging fiber optic sensing technology capable of providing real-time data at ~meter resolution over tens of kilometers, and is highly sensitive to changes in strain, temperature and seismicity.
Learn how Lumidas leverages DAS technology for improved monitoring of tailings storage facilities.
Distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) is an emerging fiber optic sensing technology that is sensitive to strain, temperature and seismic perturbations. Our founder’s doctoral research demonstrated new capabilities: DAS can be used to identify slope failure processes occurring with nanostrain sensitivity, which is unparalleled with current geotechnical monitoring technologies. DAS vibration data can also be streamed in real-time over tens of kilometers, demonstrated through an earlier commercial project, where DAS provided a key component of the mining client’s tailings dam event warning detection and notification system.
Lumidas leverages DAS technology to reveal new insights into geotechnical performance. For example, by combining DAS with passive seismic techniques, inferred shear wave velocity changes can be monitored at depth. This has the potential to provide new ways to monitor for brittle failure modes. By leveraging cable selection and installation, DAS can provide integrated geotechnical monitoring of changes in strain, temperature and seismic characteristics.
You can find a list of references to our publications and case studies listed below.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Lumidas respectfully acknowledges that our work spans the traditional territories of many Indigenous Peoples across Canada. Our team lives and operates on the ancestral lands of: the unceded territories of the Kanien’keha:ka (Mohawk) in Montreal, the unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples in Vancouver, including the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, the peoples of Treaty 7, which include the Blackfoot Confederacy, (comprised of the Siksika, the Piikani, and the Kainai First Nations), the Tsuut’ina First Nation, and the Stoney Nakoda (including Chiniki, Bearspaw, and Goodstoney First Nations) in Calgary, which is also home to the Métis Nations Districts 5 and 6.