Prototype of a Virtual Experiment Information System for the Mont Terri Underground Research Laboratory

Abstract

Underground Research Laboratories (URLs) allow geoscientific in-situ experiments at large scale. At the Mont Terri URL in Switzerland, international research groups conduct numerous experiments in parallel. The measured and simulated data as well as research results obtained from them are highly relevant as they improve the general understanding of geological processes, for example in the context of radioactive waste disposal. Unfortunately, the data obtained at the test site is often only available to researchers who are directly involved in a particular experiment. Furthermore, typical visualisation techniques of such data by domain scientists often lack spatial context and accessing and exploring the data requires prior technical knowledge and a high level of effort. We created a digital replica of the Mont Terri URL and thereby implemented a prototype of a Virtual Experiment Information System that integrates highly heterogeneous data from several different sources. It allows accessing and exploring the relevant data embedded in its spatial context without much prior technical knowledge. Both, simulation results and observation data are displayed within the same system. The 4D visualisation approach focuses on three exemplary experiments conducted at Mont Terri and is easily transferable to other experiments or even other URLs. The Unity Game Engine has been used to develop the prototype. This allowed to build the application for various output devices like desktop computers or Virtual Reality hardware without much additional effort. The implemented system reduces the technical effort required to access and explore highly relevant research data and lowers the cognitive effort usually needed to gain insights from measurements, simulation models and context data. Moreover, it promotes exchange among research groups by enabling interactive visualisations embedded in the URL’s spatial context. In addition, a future use of the system for the communication of scientific methods and results to stakeholders or the general public is plausible.

“Feels Like an Indie Game”—Evaluation of a Virtual Field Trip Prototype on Radioactive Waste Management Research for University Education

“…We created a virtual tour through the Mont Terri URL by adapting and extending the virtual experiment information system prototype (VEIS), that we developed in previous work [3]. The VEIS is a 3D tool that allows experts to view and explore heterogeneous data sets from the URL (e.g., observation data and results of numerical simulations).…”

“…The virtual experiment information system prototype is a tool for domain experts to visually access and explore relevant research data from the Mont Terri URL with low technical barriers [3]. The data included in this application is depicted in Figure 2.…”

“…The VEIS contains detailed monitoring data and simulation results for three selected experiments. These vary in types of available data, domain size, time span, measured parameters, and their research objectives (see [3] for details). The visualization of these highly heterogeneous data sets in a combined visual context supports a holistic exploration and discussions among scientists.…”

Digitalisation for nuclear waste management: predisposal and disposal

“…A first Virtual Reality (VR) prototype for the Underground Research Laboratory (URL) at Mont Terri, Switzerland, has been recently developed and a related visualisation study is available (Graebling et al 2021(Graebling et al ,2022. 4 There is a need for developing and harmonising XR concepts for various URLs across Europe-also to support an overarching DT concept.…”

Systemintegration

“…simulierter Daten animiert dargestellt oder detaillierte oder ergänzende Daten mit 3D-Objekten verknüpft werden. Diese Funktionalität erlaubt es beispielsweise, auf einen Datensensor innerhalb der Szene zu klicken und eine Zeitreihe der gemessenen Daten abzurufen oder ein Bohrloch auszuwählen und ein Bild des Bohrlochprofils oder eine PDF-Datei mit Details zur Bohrung abzurufen (Graebling et al 2022). Die Art der so verlinkten Inhalte ist dabei frei konfigurierbar und kann ebenso Webseiten, Videos oder PDF-Dateien umfassen.…”