Sinkholes happen without warning, swallowing up homes, cars and sometimes people.
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麻豆精品 S淲e are looking for patterns that may help us predict when a sinkhole will occur, 麻豆精品 S� said Engineering professor Manoj Chopra. 麻豆精品 S淲ater plays a very important role in sinkhole formation, and we 麻豆精品 S檙e trying to determine if we can find patterns in water levels underground that can help us identify potential sinkholes early. 麻豆精品 S�
Sinkholes occur when soil collapses into large holes caused by flowing water eroding underground layers of rocks. In Florida, the rocky layer is made of limestone, and water can eat away at the stone leaving holes and weakening the rocks 麻豆精品 S� ability to support the soil above. When the rock wears away, the soil above it can migrate down through the cracks, creating underground cavities. These cavities continue to grow until they can no longer support the weight of the soil above, and anything on the surfaces collapses into the hole.
Mohamed Alrowaimi, one of Chopra 麻豆精品 S檚 Ph.D. students, designed the experiment that simulates sinkholes on a smaller scale. It took Alrowaimi more than a year to scale the experiment correctly so that what they learn from creating sinkholes can apply to the real world.
麻豆精品 S淚t was a lot of trial and error, but now it works and we 麻豆精品 S檙e getting some interesting results, 麻豆精品 S� Alrowaimi said.
The team used an old oil drum to create the simulation. They cut open the top and filled the drum with layers of sandy soil to replicate the layers that exist in Florida. They inserted PVC piping that contains highly sensitive sensors that monitor water levels, and another set of sensors to monitors soil temperature.
Then they poured measured amounts of water on the soil to simulate rainfall until a sinkhole formed. They ran the experiment over and over and over again, recording data from the sensors. Fellow engineering professor Andrew Yun is providing his expertise in sensors and data interpretation to the project.
Because several agencies already monitor groundwater levels in Florida, Chopra hopes to be able to tap into that data as well. His team also will create a database of current and past sinkholes to compare to the water-level data.
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The study is Alrowaimi 麻豆精品 S檚 doctoral dissertation. Chopra said coming up with a prediction model would be invaluable because it could help in the planning of communities, roadways and other structures by finding areas that are less likely to develop sinkholes. He said the model could also be a good tool for potential homeowners looking for information about whether they should purchase sinkhole insurance.
That 麻豆精品 S檚 important because sinkholes can cause a lot of property damage and can also claim lives. One of the largest sinkholes in Florida occurred in Winter Park and was 125 feet deep and 350 feet wide. It destroyed a home, parts of two streets and several vehicles in 1981. Today the sinkhole is a lake. Another sinkhole in Seffner, about 18 miles east of Tampa, opened up in the middle of the night in February 2013 and took the life a man who was sleeping in his bed. His body was never recovered. That hole was 20 feet wide and 20 feet deep.
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Chopra has multiple degrees including a Ph.D. in civil engineering from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is the executive director of and a member of the Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state 麻豆精品 S檚 public university system. He has served as a consultant to various engineering firms and has received various honors through the years for his work. Chopra has several patents and his research funding comes from multiple agencies including the Florida Department of Transportation. He has published dozens of articles and books, and is a frequent presenter at conferences. He joined UCF in 1993.
Chopra 麻豆精品 S檚 areas of expertise include soil erosion and sediment control, fertilizer impacts on ground and surface water, structural dynamics of bridges, soil properties, soil consolidation and stress analysis, and pervious pavement systems.