Biography
Andy is a geophysical researcher in the iCRAG geohazards research spoke under the supervision of Dr Shane Donohue. He holds a BSc in geophysics from Durham University (1991) and a MEngSc from UCD (2017) on the Determination of the Undrained Shear Strength of Peat from Shear Wave Measurement.
He has worked as an engineering geophysicist for over 25 years, initially with Schlumberger as Senior Geophysicist then as Technical Manager with Fugro-Aperio and more recently with Apex Geoservices.
Since graduating at UCD he has shifted focus from commercial to research projects working for Queens University Belfast, on the climatic effects on embankment stability, before joining iCRAG. His general research interests centre around the use of shear waves in the determination of geotechnical properties of soils, with an emphasis on industry led investigations.
Using fibre optic cables as acoustic sensing elements is a novel and exciting development in seismic investigations. Applications include earthquake and tsunami monitoring, acoustic sensing and downhole investigations. My research focusses on the utilisation of fibre optic cables for the assessment of the shallow subsurface for engineering applications. Given the current requirement for renewable wind energy developments our proposed work will focus on assessing the feasibility of using fibre optic cables in an offshore environment for geotechnical site investigations.
Technical description
This research will assess the feasibility of using Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) as an alternative to currently available technologies for seismic investigations. The research will focus on the Multichannel Analysis of Surface Waves (MASW) method to determine geotechnical properties of the shallow subsurface at a number of terrestrial and marine test sites. The emphasis of the project will be on comparing the seismic response of fibre optic cables as continuous sensors to that from the current best practice approach using point element geophones. This project proposes to develop a methodology using DAS for rapidly acquiring offshore seismic data over considerable distances (km scale), at high resolution.
Role
- Specialist Staff
Institution
- UCD
Research Area
- Earth Science in Society
Expertise
- Geohazards and Geoengineering
