Disaster Tech: Volcanic eruptions spur innovations in materials, aircraft engine diagnostics

Eruption plume

“1991 Eruption of Mount Pinatubo” by Dave Harlow, USGS. Public domain.

Recently, we took a look backwards in history here on IPWatchdog to commemorate the anniversary of the massive eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18th, 1980. It’s an anniversary made more poignant by the recent news of months of increased seismic activity at the stratovolcano reported by the Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO), a monitoring project supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Having finished with our look at the past, we today turn our eyes towards the future to see the kind of hurdles posed by volcanic activity and eruptions which are being addressed through technological innovation. We return to the question we’ve asked throughout our Disaster Tech series: What are the inventive systems being created in order to mitigate the threat to life posed by our world’s greatest cataclysms.

The Volcano Hazards Program operated by USGS incorporates a number of conventional technological tools to monitor volcanic activity from coast to coast. To monitor volcanoes closely, a wide array of sensors are required to keep tabs on signs of activity. Monitoring instruments includes creepmeters, which measure fault slips by recording displacement between two piers installed on either side of a fault and connected via an invar wire or graphic rod; pore pressure monitors, which record changes in fluidic pressure in deep boreholes to an accuracy of 0.1 millibar; tiltmeters, which measure ground tilt caused by fault slip and volcanic uplift for an accurate reading of volcanic deformation; and strainmeters designed to provide precise and  continuous monitoring of crustal strain, measuring activity as faint as one inch in 16,000 miles.

Unsurprisingly, some of the more recent activities in developing materials for public infrastructure which can withstand the incredibly high temperature of lava is coming from Hawaii, a group of islands formed by volcanoes. A lava flow emerging in late June 2014 from Hawaii’s Kilauea Volcano, which traveled at a top speed of 15 meters per hour, was beginning to threaten utility poles operated by state utility provide Hawaii Electric Light (HELCO) by the end of that October. To keep electricity traveling to the threatened town of Pahoa, HELCO brought in a one-megawatt (MW) diesel-powered generator and extended transmission lines in the area; it was also looking into the possibility of increasing the average distance between utility poles up to a maximum of 1,800 feet.

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Finding new materials which are far more resistant to heat damage than conventional wooden poles was another focus area for HELCO. To generate ideas, HELCO solicited publicly for ideas and ended up designing a new utility pole material with input from teams at the University of Hawaii at Hilo and the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO). That design closely resembled an engineering concept dreamt up by high schoolers at the Hawaii Academy of Arts & Sciences (HAAS), a design which the school submitted to HELCO during the Pahoa lava threat. Both techniques involve wrapping a utility pole with materials having heat resistant and dispersive properties that can stand up to the 2,000°F+ temperatures generated by lava; the HAAS students conceived of a cement sleeve reinforced with rebar and reaching 15 feet in height. Within the sleeve exists a couple of cardboard cylinders which surround a flame retardant foam. The work of the student team was officially recognized by HELCO when they announced the development of its own lava-resistant utility pole design.

Volcanoes erupt when plate movements allow for the release of pressure of pent-up magma and volcanic gases, so it’s important to accurately monitor the gases within and extruding from an active volcano. Spectrometry tools employing either Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIS) or secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) help scientists determine the chemical composition of pre-eruptive dissolved volatile contents found within volcanic materials. Spectrometry tools work by transmitting infrared or ultraviolet light through a volcanic plume or gaseous material and determining its chemical composition based on how much of the light has been absorbed by materials. Scientists on-site will also collect gases directly from fumaroles or vents, although this can be a risky maneuver that puts researchers directly in harm’s way of a possible eruption or harmful, poisonous fumes.

Ground-based volcano imaging systems to detect changes or deformations indicating activity often have to contend with the high elevation of volcanoes and the clouds which can form at those altitudes. Compensating for this possibility is the all-weather volcano topography imaging sensor (AVTIS) designed to provide an accurate measure of lava dome growth to prepare for a possible collapse and the resulting pyroclastic flows which move fast and are lethal. Accurate hazard warnings provided by AVTIS and other types of sensors are necessary for giving public safety agencies every second possible to prepare for a cataclysmic event.

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, has often been suggested for replacing human workers in dangerous jobs. This February, a team of adventurers captured film of the world’s largest lava lake at Mount Nyiragongo, an active volcano in Congo; footage of the 600-meter deep lava lake was taken by a drone. It should be pretty obvious the kind of benefit we would see from sending drones outfitted with spectrometry tools into harm’s way instead of relying on remote ground or air-based monitoring systems and a few brave souls willing to brave the heat.

In major eruptions, devastation can be wrought for months on end by volcanic ash containing harsh materials which can be thrown tens of thousands of feet into the air before settling across the globe. These ash clouds contain heavy amounts of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride and hydrogen fluoride gases which are life-threatening to crops, livestock and humans alike. Although many materials found in volcanic ashes dissipate within months, sulfate aerosols can remain suspended for a few years and affect the world’s atmosphere. Recent eruptions around the world have been tied to a cooling effect that occurs when microscopic particles suspended in air block solar energy radiated by the Sun. Researchers at the academic institutions of ETH Zurich in Switzerland and Georgia Tech have recently uncovered part of the processes leading to bubble formation in magma; these gaseous bubbles contain the sulphur which leads to atmospheric and environmental changes. The team found that bubbles rise more quickly in crystal-rich magma reservoir layers where it was previously assumed that the high viscosity of the crystal-rich magma would cause bubbles to slow dramatically.

Volcanic ash, like any harsh environmental contaminant, can also prove to be tremendously damaging to aircraft engines while in flight, creating a safety risk. Last July, government agencies and private firms came together in the third phase of the Vehicle Integrated Propulsion Research (VIPR) project, an initiative for evaluating engine health management technologies using sensor-based systems to identify symptoms of engine problems before major failures occur. That phase of the project involved blasting volcanic ash into an engine outfitted with sensors and advanced diagnostic tools to see more clearly how volcanic ash can degrade an engine. The resulting data might inform airlines as to how closely an aircraft can fly by a volcanic plume without suffering engine damage. The VIPR project receives contributions from NASA, the U.S. Air Force, the Federal Aviation Administration and private companies like Boeing (NYSE:BA) and Pratt and Whitney.

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