COST EFFECTIVE LANDSLIDE MONITORING WITH TIME DOMAIN REFLECTOMETRY (TDR): FIELD TEST EXPERIENCES AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

The Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) measuring system can be used as a cost effective alternative to inclinometer measurements for the surveillance of subsurface deformations in landslides. With its ability to simultaneously perform nearly continuous measurements of several measuring sites, TDR can ideally be used in time critical measuring tasks as e.g. in alarm systems.

In the last years TDR monitoring systems were installed at several different landslides in the European Alps including the large scale landslides of Doren, Gschliefgraben (both Austria) and Triesenberg (Liechtenstein) as well as in several medium to small scale landslides. The broad field experience gained in these practical applications allows determining the field performance of the TDR measuring system in terms of sensitivity, accuracy and reliability and clearly reveals the limits and advantages of the method.