Underground Lifeline Infrastructure -

EBMUD – Claremont Ave Pipeline Monitoring – Oakland, California

The Soga Research Group/Center for Smart Infrastructure is working with EBMUD to develop a cutting-edge system for monitoring pipelines that cross active earthquake faults. Distributed fiber optic sensors were installed in 2022 along an approximately 200m alignment of two critical water transmission…

EBMUD – Robotic Tunnel Inspection with Boston Dynamics Spot

CSI is working with EBMUD to develop a cutting-edge autonomous robotic tunnel inspection platform. This framework involves deploying state-of-the-art sensing technologies (3D stereo camera, 360 camera, and multi-gas sensors) on board a quadruped terrestrial robot (Boston Dynamics Spot). The pl…

EBMUD – Water Network Resiliency Evaluation

CSI has collaborated with the EBMUD to deploy AI/ML techniques to improve water distribution network resiliency. This is a rapidly developing sector of CSI+EBMUD collaboration! 1) Investigating the Effects of Operational and Environmental Factors on Water Distribution Pipeline Failures using Surviva…

GeoSearch – Ground Penetration Radar (GPR) for Pipeline Detection & Augmented Reality (AR) Visualization

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a technology that can help to visualize underground objects without destructing the surface. This project aims to collaborate with the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and GeoSearch to quantify the value of this GPR-based underground mapping service in re…

Kubota – Ductile Iron Pipe Testing

With a focus on large-scale testing capacity, this study delves into the challenges faced by buried pipelines, particularly segmented ones within water networks, when confronted with natural disasters such as earthquakes and landslides. The integrity of connections between pipe segments becomes a pa…

PPI – iPVC Pipe Testing

This study centers on experimental assessments of AWWA C900 DR14 iPVC pipes, subjecting them to bending forces. The primary objective was to determine the pipes’ capacity to maintain their full-service functionality following seismic events, thus bolstering seismic resilience. To explore this,…

Sixense / Enzan / Kajima – AI/ML for TBM Tunneling

CSI has collaborated with notable entities in the Tunneling & Underground Construction industry: Sizense, Enzan Koubou, and Kajima to implement AI/ML techniques to improve TBM tunneling. 1) Supervised geologic interpretation based on TBM data This research aims to develop a supervised system for…

U.S. Pipe – Ductile Iron Pipe Testing

This study involved a series of pipeline experiments, encompassing tension tests, bi-axial tension tests, and 4-point bending tests, to investigate the failure mechanisms of an 8-inch TR-XTREME ductile iron pipe manufactured by US Pipe. These experiments were equipped with distributed fiber optic se…

USDOT – DFOS of pipelines affected by fault crossing and landslide

The Soga Research Group secured funding from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to create a distributed monitoring system designed for steel pipelines transporting hydrocarbons through geohazard-prone areas. This innovative system has been implemented on a substantial…