PRESENTATION OF RESULTS IN TESTING OF EQUIPMENT, Corpo Nazionale Soccorso Alpino e Speleologico 5th European Cave Rescue Meeting 2011 Starigrad Paklenica, Croatia 15th – 18th September 2011 PRESENTATION OF RESULTS IN TESTING OF EQUIPMENT, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES OF CAVE RESCUE CNSAS - Commissione Tecnica Speleologica

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 What is CTS The Commissione Tecnica Speleologica is a CNSAS committee intended to work on technical subjects Members come from almost regions of Italy Subjects the CTS works on: Design of a new stretcher Design of an helmet for the casualty Real time forces measurement system for rescue maneuver characterization Development of a proprietary wired telephone The Technical Caving Committee is a workgroup of the Italian Alpine and Caving Rescue National Body Design of a new stretcher customized in order to meet the specific needs of a rescue operation measurement of the forces applying to the components of the rescue system during the evacuation operations Development of a proprietary wired telephone communication tools to be used during cave rescue operations C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Subjects new stretcher helmet rescue maneuver characterization wired telephone The Technical Caving Committee is a workgroup of the Italian Alpine and Caving Rescue National Body Design of a new stretcher customized in order to meet the specific needs of a rescue operation measurement of the forces applying to the components of the rescue system during the evacuation operations Development of a proprietary wired telephone communication tools to be used during cave rescue operations C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Rescue maneuver (considerations) Single UIAA equipment is provided with its maximum ratings In a rescue system several equipment interact each other The whole system behavior can hardly be predicted by theoretical thoughts Even if each UIAA equipment is provided with is maximum ratings warranting about their usage in rescue operations we actually miss data about forces in complex systems C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Rescue maneuver testing: why? What’s going to happen, anchor by anchor, during the execution of a rigging maneuver? Strength on each equipment changes instantaneously according to the geometry that changes through the maneuver Some geometries could lead to unexpected loads What about the residual safety margins? What’s going to happen if something breaks? Could some configuration be simplified? No need to re-work on single equipment - test already done by equipment vendors using dedicated testing system C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 An approach C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Requirements A data measurement and recording tool is proposed Portable and on-field operable Simultaneous multiple points acquisition Real time acquisition and analysis Post acquisition data processing Portable and on-field operable (battery powered, low power consumption) C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Portable and on-field operable C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Simultaneous multiple points acquisition C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 System description The data acquisition system is composed by: 12 strain gauge load cells (0 – 3000 kg) 16 bits USB data acquisition card (National Instruments™ DAQ) Laptop Home made software for data recording and post-processing Precision in the range (reasonable ) +/- 10kg (1daN) DAQ: 8 differential pair channels or 16 single ended channels Home made sw for system management and data processing C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

System description: load cells & DAQ Steel made, 3000kg full scale “DAQ box” contains some electronic circuitry to provide regulated voltage supply to Cells 12 electrical cables (4 wires) of different lenghts C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Operating scheme DAQ BOX USB C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

The data acquisition process One load cell mounted on each relevant point (belays, stretcher, pulleys, …) All the strengths measured and saved real time Raw graphics available on the fly Post-processing and data filtering is allowed trough an home-made software developed by CTS Finally some graphics are reported for the highlights Graph ready for deeper analysis – allow to immediately discover issues and than correct/modify the execution of the test Each test is repeated three times in order to discard “errors” during the test executions – like “non ideal” belays release, Finally some graphics are reported to highlight the relevant characteristics of the rigging C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Load cells positioning C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Home-made software C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Graphic of loads C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Data acquisition results The data processing is followed by an in deep analysis: Graphics analysis and annotation Live recorded notes Discussion The results of the investigation are described on a structured technical report We analyze the most representative graphics among all Live recorded notes: we take note of envirenment (rope diameter, brand, level of usage..) C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Technical report Three main sections Introduction: abstract, brief description of the technique and its variants Operating scheme: geometrical data (angles, lengths,..) load cells positions, Data analysis: graphics explanations Conclusions and final discussion Structured Brief description of the technique and of the variants considered Graphics are annotated with phase by phase description C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Graphics analysis and annotation C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 Technical report C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011 State of the art Characterization of the “standard” rigging techniques adopted and deployed within the CNSAS Analysis of faults Analysis of new techniques (collaboration with the SNATSS - Caving Rescue Technician National School) Overview del lavoro fatto (manovre standard descritte sul manuale, poi cedimenti) cts disponibile a collaborazioni – 1 slide C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011

Thanks for your attention BUT… FIRST OF ALL… Thanks for your attention DON’T LET OUR BraIN Overview del lavoro (manovre standard descritte sul manuale, poi cedimenti) cts disponibile a collaborazioni – 1 slide UPSIDE DOWN C.N.S.A.S. Commissione Tecnica Speleologica Paklenica 16 Sept 2011