Dams and Dikes Structural Health Monitoring Systems

The control of a dam requires a wide range of important information coming from the sensors, which are of vital importance for the life of a dam. Engineers responsible can take specific and sudden decisions for a correct control of the reservoir, of the dam body behavior and of foundations. Large dams are usually designed and built to control the surface water for different purposes: water storage and supply (irrigations and people needs), power supply.

The main purpose of instrumentation installed within a dam is to study whether or not the dam is behaving according to design predictions. This general statement can be subdivided into two categories: first, the study of special problems at individual sites that are related to special foundation conditions or uncommon design features and second, the study of behavior when there are no such special problems. (John Dunnicliff 1988)

In the case of Dikes, a structural health monitoring system can provide early warning of degradation to allow preventive action to be taken before a seepage or a failure occurs.

Benefits of SMARTEC's Integrated Dam / Dike Health Monitoring Solutions

1 - Integrated Solutions SMARTEC provides Integrated Structural Health Monitoring Solutions for Tunnels, based on advanced fiber optic technologies and conventional sensors. We also integrate local corrosion sensors and other third party transducers for additional information. All sensing technologies are seamlessly integrated into a single database and user interface.

2 - SHMLive Through the SHMLive service, SMARTEC offers a comprehensive solution for Tunnels monitoring. This includes the design of the system, its delivery and installation, maintenance and operation, web access to the data and data analysis by experienced engineering partners, all for a fixed monthly fee.

3 - Provide with important data on the behavior of reservoir, dam body and foundation One of the most important aims of a monitoring system is to compare data acquired from instrumentation with expected design values obtained from numerical analysis: structural, hydraulic and geotechnical analysis.
Records obtained from dam instrumentation are, therefore, crucial for interpretation of structural behavior and for knowing the reservoir level and foundation stability.

4 - Ensure preservation of water, safety of people and nature with a real-time and continuous monitoring 24/7 All acquired data will be conveniently used to save, as far as possible, the available water wealth, by keeping under constant control the reservoir level, opening of gates, overflowing, etc. By quick data processing engineers will be aware of the water balance between inflows and outflows so they may take the most appropriate decision on flood control.
Overflowing or huge seepages could have disastrous impact, putting human beings and animals in danger. A real-time and continuous monitoring system can avoid these calamity and terrible disasters.

5 - Keep external agents under control : earthquakes, rainfalls
Seismic events can occur so strong motion monitoring is used to measure the response of the dam and compare data with seismic design assumption.
Important rainfalls could provide huge amount of water and flow wave could approach the dam. Weather station dislocated around the reservoir may help the engineer to study the phenomena and prevent structural damages or/and water waste.
 

6 - Maintenance costs reduction Implementing a SMARTEC monitoring system with high grade of accuracy, reliability and robustness can decrease the insurance premiums and maintenance costs that are allocated for refunding possible liabilities and damages on people and properties caused by unexpected structural failures.

7 - SMARTEC: your dependable partner for instrumentation project management SMARTEC will support you in all phases of the project, from the system design, to installation, commissioning and training. Through our experience and commitment, we guarantee the satisfaction of your monitoring needs.
The Roctest group has been instrumenting critical structures, including dams and nuclear power plants, for more than 60 years. We will be here to support your project for at least the next 60. Our worldwide network of system integrators provides a competent local support for your project.
All our systems come with a 10 year warranty on the availability of spare parts.

Solutions

The following packages are the most widely used for Dam and Dikes monitoring. However each projects has specific requirements and needs that can be addressed by a tailored system. SMARTEC has developed a 7-step methodology to design and implement a optimal SHM system for your dam or dike.

Selected References

Nam Ngum 2 Dam Leakage monitoring - DiTemp (Laos, 2008 - 10)
Temperature Pool monitoring - DiTemp (Spain, 2007 - 09)
Kalivac Dam Temperature Monitoring (Albania, 2007 - 10)
Canales Dam clay core (Spain, 2006)
Bitumen Joint Monitoring (Latvia, 2004)
Luzzone dam raising (Switzerland, 1997)
Emosson  (Switzerland, 1997 - 00)

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