Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
the
standard
unit
of
acceleration
is
1 metre
per
second
squared (abbreviated as m/s2). Other units include the gal (sometimes known
as a galileo, in either case with symbol Gal), which equals 1 centimetre per
second squared, and the g (gn), equal to 9.80665 m/s2. The value of
the gnapproximately equals the acceleration due to gravity at the Earth's
surface (although the actual acceleration g varies fractionally from place to
place).
1. INTRODUCTION
`
period of oscillation of the spring-mass system can be made very long approaching a thousand seconds. This detunes the test mass from most local
vibration and mechanical noise, increasing the sensitivity and utility of the
gravimeter. Quartz and metal springs are chosen for different reasons; quartz
springs are less affected by magnetic and electric fields while metal springs
have a much lower drift (elongation) with time. The test mass is sealed in an
air-tight container so that tiny changes of barometric pressure from blowing
wind and other weather do not change the buoyancy of the test mass in air.
Spring gravimeters are, in practice, relative instruments which measure
the difference in gravity between different locations. A relative instrument also
requires calibration by comparing instrument readings taken at locations with
known complete or absolute values of gravity. Absolute gravimeters provide
such measurements by determining the gravitational acceleration of a test
mass in vacuum. A test mass is allowed to fall freely inside a vacuum chamber
and its position is measured with a laser interferometer and timed with an
atomic clock. The laser wavelength is known to 0.025 ppb and the clock is
stable to 0.03 ppb as well. Great care must be taken to minimize the effects
of perturbing forces such as residual air resistance (even in vacuum), vibration,
and magnetic forces. Such instruments are capable of an accuracy of about
two parts per billion or 0.002 mGal and reference their measurement to
atomic standards of length and time. Their primary use is for calibrating
relative instruments, monitoring crustal deformation, and in geophysical
studies requiring high accuracy and stability. However, absolute instruments
are somewhat larger and significantly more expensive than relative spring
gravimeters, and are thus relatively rare.
Gravimeters have been designed to mount in vehicles, including aircraft,
ships and submarines. These special gravimeters isolate acceleration from the
2. GRAVIMETER
A gravimeter is an instrument used in gravimetry for measuring the local
gravitational field of the Earth. A gravimeter is a type of accelerometer,
specialized for measuring the constant downward acceleration of gravity,
which varies by about 0.5% over the surface of the Earth. Though the essential
principle of design is the same as in other accelerometers, gravimeters are
typically designed to be much more sensitive in order to measure very tiny
fractional changes within the Earth'sgravity of 1 g, caused by nearby geologic
structures or the shape of the Earth and by temporal tidal variations. This
sensitivity means that gravimeters are susceptible to extraneous vibrations
including noise that tend to cause oscillatory accelerations. In practice this is
counteracted by integral vibration isolation and signal processing. The
constraints on temporal resolution are usually less for gravimeters, so that
resolution can be increased by processing the output with a longer time
constant. Gravimeters display their measurements in units of gals (cm/s2),
instead of more common units of acceleration.
Gravimeters
3. Types of Gravimeters
Modern land gravimeters are broadly classified into two types absolute and
relative.
3.1.
Absolute gravimeters
Falling corner-cube gravimeter The motion of a free falling cornercube retroreflector in vacuum is monitored by a laser interferometer,
which detects optical interference to determine the rate of acceleration
of gravity. Corner-cube absolute free-fall gravimeters are one of the
3.2.
Relative gravimeters
most
accurate
relative
gravimeters
are superconducting
achieves
sensitivities
of
one nanogal,
with the length of the spring directly proportional to the strength of the
force. This type of gravimeter has good sensitivity and is suitable for
mobile use, but it needs frequent recalibration.
3.3.
4. Principles of Gravimeters
The simplest way to present the physical principle of a (relative)
gravimeter is when a mass is suspended from a vertical spring and the
extension of the spring is expressed in the function of gravity changes
(see Fig.10).
For the two stations mg1=rl1 and mg2=rl2, where r is the elastic constant
of
spring
and l denotes
that
the
length
of
the
spring.
It
follows
two stations is linearly proportional to the change in the length of the spring.
This stable type of gravimeter is based on Hookes law. We do not use stable
gravimeters in practice due to their low sensitivity. Because the change
changes to be
measured are very small, systems are applied to amplify the change in
gravitational acceleration.
There are two basic types of field portable relative gravimeters with
different
spring
balance
configurations.
These
are
known
designate
two
levels
of
performance
by
the
without
resistive
loss
as
long
they
are
kept
below
criticaltemperature. This explains the extreme stability of the sensor and hence
the name Superconducting Gravimeter (SG).
Other relative gravimeters and seismometers are based on a test mass
that is suspended by a spring attached to the instrument support. A change in
gravity or motion of the ground moves the test mass and this motion
generates a voltage that becomes the output signal (velocity or acceleration).
Even in a thermally well-regulated environment the mechanical aspects of a
spring suspension causes erratic drift that is difficult to remove by post
processing. The SG solves the drift problem by replacing the mechanical spring
with the levitation of a test mass using a magnetic suspension. The figure
(opposite top right) shows a diagram of the GSU; the three major
superconducting elements are the levitated mass (sphere), the field coils, and
the magnetic shield. The displacement transducer is formedby a capacitance
bridge that surrounds the sphere and is sealed with a partial pressure of
helium gas in a separate cavity inside the coils. The field is generated by two
niobium wire coils (superconducting below a temperature of 9.2 K) that carry,
in principle, perfectly stable and persistent superconducting currents to
provide an extremely stable magnetic field. The stability depends on the zero
resistance property of superconductors after the currents are trapped no
resistive (ohmic) loses are present to cause them to decay in time. The test
mass is a small 2.54 cm diameter sphere, also made of niobium, that weighs
about 5 grams. The coils are axially aligned; one just below the center of the
sphere and one displaced about 2.5 cm below the sphere. When current is
trapped in the coils, currents are induced on the surface of the sphere. As with
the currents in the coils, the induced currents are perfectly stable in the
absence of any ohmiclosses.
The levitation force is produced by the interaction between the
magnetic field from the coils and the currents induced on the surface of the
superconducting sphere. The figure below shows a schematic of the sphere,
coils, capacitance bridge, and magnetic flux lines induced on the surface of the
superconducting sphere.
The current in the coils can be precisely adjusted to balance the force of
gravity on the sphere at the center of the displacement transducer. The ratio
of currents in upper and lower coils is adjusted so that the magnetic force
gradient (spring constant) is very weak. As a result, a very small change in
gravity (acceleration) gives a large displacement of the test mass. This allows
for the instrument to achieve very high sensitivity.
Because the levitation is magnetic, changes in the Earths magnetic field
would seriously degrade its stability. A superconducting shield is used to
exclude the earths magnetic field from entering the space where the sensor is
housed.
To maintain superconductivity, the SG sensor operates in liquid helium
at 4 Degrees Kelvin inside a highly efficient vacuum insulated Dewar.
An OSG uses a 4 K refrigeration system that uses only 1.3 kW to
operate. The 4 K coldhead liquefies helium gas in the Dewar neck and
returns it to the Dewar storage volume.
The Dewar-Coldhead operate as a closed cycle system that can
operate indefinitely without the need for refilling. No Liquid Helium
refills are needed! New advances in the iGrav Dewar allow for cool
down from room temperature in a matter of days!
The fundamental design of the gravimeter has not changed since it was
first reported in the Review of Scientific Instruments nearly 30 years ago.
However, modifications that have yielded improvements in performance were
actively developed and are continuing for commercially available instruments
at GWR Instruments. The design of the instrument is illustrated in Fig. 1. A
diagram of a recently developed dual sensor instrument is shown in Fig. 2.
A. Superconducting levitation
The basic element of the device is a superconducting sphere suspended
in the magnetic field gradient generated by a pair of superconducting coils with
persistent current switches. That is, the coils are shorted with a
superconducting shunt after a current is established so that the current is
permanently trapped as long as the superconductor remains at temperatures
below its critical temperature, Tc . The method for trapping the current is
standard for superconducting magnets. A voltage is applied to a heater to raise
the temperature of the shunt above Tc . Current is then applied to the coil to
generate the desired magnetic field. When the desired field is reached the
heater voltage is removed so that the shunt becomes superconducting. Then
the current from the external supply is reduced to zero and disconnected,
leaving the original current flowing in the coil and the shunt. In order to
minimize heat input that evaporates liquid helium, the current leads between
room temperature and liquid helium temperature are connected through a
plug located in the liquid helium. Once the current is trapped in the coils, the
leads are unplugged and removed from the cryostat. In practice, the precision
required for adjusting the currents is greater than can easily be achieved by
this simple procedure. Therefore short pulses are applied to the heaters with
the external current close to the desired value The levitation force is due to the
interaction between the inhomogeneous magnetic field from the coils and the
currents induced by it in the superconducting sphere. The effect does not
depend on the Meisner effect of superconductors in which magnetic field is
excluded from the interior of a superconductor even if it becomes
superconducting while in a magnetic field. Rather it depends only on the zero
resistance property of superconductors so that the Faraday induction law
guarantees that flux is excluded from inside of the sphere if a field is applied
after the sphere becomes superconducting.
The levitation force on the sphere is proportional to the product of the
field and the field gradient produced by the coils. Two coils, close to the
Helmholtz configuration along a vertical axis are used and the sphere is
levitated just above the plane of the upper coil. In this way the levitating force
and the force gradient can be adjusted independently so that with the sphere
levitated at its desired location, the restoring force for departures from that
position can be adjusted as close as desired to zero. This would be equivalent
to an infinitely long spring. In practice there is an optimal range for the force
gradient
Calibration
For some purposes, such as testing models of the interior of the earth
through measurements of the solid earth tides, it is essential to calibrate the
gravimeter accurately. The SG can be calibrated to an accuracy of about 1% by
applying a dc potential to the capacitor plates as described above but this is
not sufficient for present day work. There are three methods that are currently
used for the purpose. An accurately calculated gravity signal can be generated
by moving a known mass near the gravimeter over known distances, assuming
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Gravimetry provides very little room for instrumental error and does
not require a series of standards for calculation of an unknown.
2.
3.
4.
5.
8. Applications
Hydrology
Volcano Monitoring
Post-Glacial Rebound
Tides of the solid earth and studies of the deep interior of the earth
Principle of Operation
Instrument features
Automatic data acquisition and system controller (Microsoft Windowsbased laptop PC)
Real-Time data processing automatic data storage
Optional environmental Monitoring Package: includes automatic logging
of barometric pressure, ambient temperature and other system
information
Real-time gravity corrections for tides, ocean loading, polar motion, and
atmospheric attraction
Superspring long period (30-60s) active isolation device
Built in collimation optics for verticality alignment
Drag-free chamber eliminates residual drag on freefall object
Frequency stabilized HeNe laser (Iodine stabilized HeNe laser option
available for highest accuracy applications)
Built in Rubidium atomic clock
Ion-vacuum pump with battery backup power supply
Custom-built shipping containers
9.3.
General Specifications
9.4.
Performance specification
9.5.
FG5 Applications
Geophysical Research
Vertical crustal motion detection
Complementary verification of displacements measured with GPS and
VLBI
Volcanic magma flow monitoring
Postglacial rebound studies
Uplift of subduction studies
Earthquake research
Long period tidal monitoring and earth inelasticity modeling
Environmental Monitoring
Water table monitoring in deep and/or multiple aquifers
Nuclear waste management and cleanup
Global sea level studies for global warming
Exploration and Resource Management
Oil exploration
Mineral exploration
Precision Measurements and Calibrations
Pressure transducer and load cell calibration
Redefinition of the kilogram in the SI system of units
Big G determinations and equivalence principle
Calibration of superconducting of other high precision relative gravity
meters
Inertial Navigation
Gravity reference station determinations
Relative gravity network control points
Establishing geodetic tie points for gravity networks
Defining the geoid
10. CONCLUSION
11.REFERENCES
1. "Operating
Principles
of
the
Superconducting
Gravity