A second-generation earthquake monitoring system (EMS) was recently installed on the trans-Alaska pipeline. The primary purpose of the EMS is twofold: to determine whether the pipeline should be shut down in response to earthquake activity and to delineate inspection requirements for the affected portion of the route. The EMS consists of eleven digital strong motion accelerograph stations located along the pipeline alignment. The EMS hardware utilizes rack-mounted industrial-grade Pentium PC's. Standard printed circuit boards that provide special functions, such as analog-to-digital conversion, have been used along with software drivers to facilitate data acquisition, input/output, and communications. The eleven PC stations use the Windows NT 4.0 operating system and are networked via a TCP/IP-based network. The EMS stations are designed to run uninterrupted for long periods in a remote environment. Remote access features and extensive automated test capabilities are included to facilitate system validation and maintenance.
New trans-Alaska pipeline earthquake monitoring system
1999
10 Seiten, 3 Quellen
Conference paper
English