Dam Safety: Use of Instrumentation in Dams

Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.11, No.1, 2020, 145-202 ISSN: 1792-9040 (print version), 1792-9660 (online) https://doi.org/10.47260/jesge/1115 Scientific Press International Limited Dam Safety: Use of Instrumentation in Dams Nasrat Adamo1, Nadhir Al-Ansari2, Varoujan Sissakian3, Jan Laue4 and Sven Knutsson5 Abstract Dam safety concerns do not stop at site selection, or the design and construction stages of a dam, but continue throughout its whole life. Seeing to safety issues of any dam is done by following up its behavior through visual observation supplemented and enriched by data collection from all the devices installed on or implanted in a dam to follow its reactions to the forces and conditions in action. Analysis of the accumulated data will show the safety level and the need or, otherwise, of any remedial works. Using measuring devices to quantifying seepage conditions at any dam and correlating this with water levels’ fluctuations is the first main issue that concerns dam safety. Added to this, measurement of pore water and total earth pressure in earthfill dams, temperature measurements in concrete dams, uplift and displacement measurements, and measurements of stresses and strains can all give good pictures of what is happening inside the dam and/or its foundation in both types of dams. In the following work, a summary of typical instrumentations and monitoring used in evaluating causes of common problems is given. Moreover, requirements for good instrumentation program are explained and the methods of data collection, whether manual, or use of stand-alone loggers and real-time monitoring networks are touched upon. The various devices in current use are described in more details. Actual examples of monitoring systems in existing dams are presented to show the value and importance of these systems to the safety of these dams. Keywords: Dam safety, visual observation, seepage, pore water pressure, total earth pressure, uplift, temperature measurements, displacement measurements, stand-alone loggers, real-time monitoring networks. 1 Consultant Dam Engineer, Sweden. 2 Lulea University of Technology, Lulea 971 87, Sweden. 3 Lecturer, University of Kurdistan Hewler and Private Consultant Geologist, Erbil. 4 Lulea University of Technology, Lulea 971 87, Sweden. 5 Lulea University of Technology, Lulea 971 87, Sweden. Article Info: Received: September 7, 2020. Revised: September 17, 2020. Published online: September 28, 2020. 146 Adamo et al. 1. Introduction Instrumentation of dams is the use of devices to measure safety parameters of such dams which together with visual inspections and other measurements made at the site provide powerful tools to evaluate the performance and discover early signs of abnormal behavior. Careful examination of instrumentation data on a continuing basis may reveal a possible critical condition. Conversely, instrumentation may be a mean of assuring that an observed condition is not serious and does not require immediate remedial measures. At the design stage, many factors and parameters are assumed with respect to materials used, dam performance under the predicted loads, foundation conditions and the behavior of these foundation during operation. In most of the cases the materials are tested in laboratories and designs are based on calculations that the dam and foundation will act within the range of assumptions made fulfilling the required factors of safety. In actual conditions, there are always large variations in materials properties, construction methods and control procedures; all leading to have conditions deferring from the original assumptions. Similarly, some loading conditions may be beyond those assumed due to gaps in recorded data or due to unprecedented or unexpected conditions. Inadequate knowledge of foundation, resulting from insufficient geological investigations or wrong interpretation and unsuitable treatment ends in undesirable safety problems. Accumulated experience with dams coupled with increased knowledge of rock and soil mechanics and concrete technology in addition to lessons derived from many dam failures have led to the advent and progress of instrumental monitoring and the technological innovations in this field. Measurements obtained from instruments now may be electronic or made by using a mechanical device, and telemetering made it possible to relay real time measurements to remote control centers. Although simple devices for water level measurements and seepage measurements have been in long use, the great leap was made in the United States in the 1930s; the Bureau of Reclamation began to use controlled measurements to correlate the performance of completed dam structures with design assumptions and construction practices. Construction of new dams from the 1930s until the 1970s and after came with extensive utilization of dam instrumentation and monitoring programs. Such programs have undergone great changes in recent years; because of progress in microcomputer technology. However, although many advances have occurred in data acquisition, processing, instrumentation components and measuring techniques the factors affecting dam performance or the performance indicators have not changed putting more stress on the importance of instrumentation monitoring as one safeguard for dam safety. 2. Scope of Instruments Monitoring Instruments measurements are complementary to visual inspections which are carried out routinely for checking dam safety issues. The benefits of instrument Dam Safety: Use of Instrumentation in Dams 147 monitoring include the following: i. Instrumented monitoring products are quantitative data which supplement visual observations. ii. The accuracy and sensitivity of the monitoring is defined as the instrumentation program is designed which is dependent on dams’ hazards classification. iii. Certain instruments give information on foundation conditions and within the interior of structures which cannot be followed by visual inspections. iv. May provide long term, consistent records of data, while other methods of observation tend to provide short-term discrete records. v. Allows the detection of subtle trends in the dams’ performance under different loading conditions that may develop slowly over time. vi. The collection of instrumentation data can be automated which allows for monitoring on a more frequent (near real time) basis. vii. Automated monitoring systems can be used to initiate alarms for notifying dam monitoring personnel of sudden changes in the instrument data values due to normal or extreme loading conditions such as earthquakes and flooding. All installed instruments require; however, constant attention to insure their good operation and prevents malfunctioning and giving false alarms. Typical instruments are used for checking certain areas of concern or performance aspects which generally include the following: i. Seepage flows. ii. Seepage water turbidity, its salt content and temperature. iii. Piezometric levels. iv. Water levels. v. Deformations or movements. vi. Pressures. vii. Loading conditions. viii. Temperature variations within dams’ body; and ix. Accelerations experienced by the dam during an earthquake. Some types of the instruments used are common for both concrete and earthfill dams; while others are restricted to only one type of them depending on the nature and type of the dam and the phenomenon to be observed and followed. Dam safety concerns to be checked by visual inspections and instrument measurement are given in Table 1 [1]. 148 Adamo et al. Table 1: Typical instrumentations and monitoring used in evaluating causes of common problems/concerns. Problem/Concern Typical Follow Up Method Seepage or leakage Visual observation, weirs, flowmeters, flumes, calibrated containers, observation wells, piezometers Boils or piping Visual observation, piezometers, weirs Uplift pressure, pore pressure, or phreatic Visual observation, porewater pressure cells, surface observation wells, piezometers Drain function or adequacy Visual observation, pressure and flow measurements, piezometers Erosion, scour or sedimentation Visual observation, sounding, underwater inspection, photogrammetric survey Dissolution of foundation strata Water Quality test Total or surface movement (translation, Visual observation, precise position and level surveys, rotation) plum measurements, tiltmeters Internal movement or deformation in Settlement plates, cross- arm devices, fluid leveling embankments devices, pneumatic settlement sensors, vibrating wire settlement sensors, mechanical and electrical sounding devices, inclinometers, extensometers, shear strips Internal movement or deformation in Plumb lines, tiltmeters, inclinometers, extensometers, concrete structures joint meters, calibrated tapes Foundation or abutment movement Visual observation, precise surveys, inclinometers, extensometers, piezometers Poor quality rock foundation or abutment Visual observation, pressure and flow measurements, piezometers, precise surveys, extensometers, inclinometers Slope Stability Visual observation, precise surveys, inclinometers, observation wells, piezometers, shear strips Joint or crack movement Crack meters, reference points, plaster, or grout patches Stresses or strains Earth pressure cells, stress meters, strain meters, over coring Seismic loading Accelerographs Relaxation of post- tension anchors Jacking tests, load cells, extensometers, fiber-optic cable Concrete deterioration Visual observation, loss of section surveys,

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