Cemented fibers as a testbed for distributed acoustic sensing (DAS)

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that cemented fibers in a DAS setup accurately measure rock strain with high waveform similarity to traditional sensors, showing potential for reliable distributed seismic monitoring.

Contribution

It introduces a method of cementing fibers into concrete to achieve high strain transfer rates and consistent DAS measurements across frequencies and channels.

Findings

Strain transfer rate close to 1 for cemented fibers

High waveform similarity (>0.95) for earthquake signals

Effective noise reduction enabling microseism detection

Abstract

A rigid connection between the optical fiber and the rock makes amplitudes of 'fiber strain' measured with Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) equal to 'rock strain'. We demonstrate this by running four interrogator units (IU) on a DAS testbed with single-fiber patch cables being cemented into a groove in the concrete floor of Black Forest Observatory (BFO). The recorded signals are compared with the recordings of a calibrated Invar wire strain meter array that has been continuously in operation for the last decades. This way we measure 'strain transfer rate' (ratio of 'fiber strain' over 'rock strain') at frequencies below 0.2 Hz. Waveform similarity for strong earthquake signals is high with typical values of the normalized correlation coefficient greater than 0.95. The 'strain transfer rate' is close to 1 for all four IUs, while it was significantly less in a previous study with DAS cables unreeled on the floor and loaded down by sand and sandbags, only. At frequencies up to 14 Hz we make an intercomparison of IUs, showing no significant variation with frequency. The scatter of 'strain transfer rate' in between channels which are spatially near to each other in the same fiber route is about $\pm$10 % in most cases. The variation of median values in between different IUs and earthquakes is less than 5 %. By subtracting the common mode laser noise, which is coherent along the fiber route, we lower the background signal level to an rms-amplitude of 100 pstrain at 0.1 Hz and 5 pstrain at 1 Hz in a bandwidth of 1/6 decade for the best cases. This allows the detection of the marine microseisms during times of moderate amplitude level.