INTERGEO Agenda - english

Authors: Yijie Du, Corinna Harmening The GeoLab project aims to build an underground laboratory for research related to geothermal energy applications. Within this project, deformation monitoring is essential during both the construction phase and long-term operation. Continuous monitoring enables the assessment of structural stability and supports the safe and sustainable use of geothermal energy. This study investigates the potential of low-cost sensors for long-term deformation monitoring and their possible integration into large-scale monitoring networks. In particular, low-cost IMUs and inclinometers are evaluated regarding their measurement performance and long-term stability. The sensors were first tested under different temperature conditions and calibrated to compensate for temperature-dependent effects and possible zero-point drifts. As a practical use case, the sensors were applied to bridge monitoring in order to measure structural vibration frequencies and to detect deformation behavior. The presented work provides an initial evaluation of the feasibility of low-cost sensing technologies for long-term geodetic and structural monitoring applications.