New approaches for improved dam monitoring

Many large structures in operation today, including dams, were built in the 1960s. In the coming decades, some might be categorized as historical heritage in terms of their innovative features or size. However, apart from their historical importance, it would be catastrophic if these structures were to fail, both from an economic point of view and, especially, for safety reasons. Therefore, structural integrity should be monitored to avoid significant and expensive repairs, which may require shutdown of the facility, when preventative maintenance could be undertaken. Of the existing monitoring devices and methodologies applied to various types of large structures, three are widely used for safety management: visual inspection; geometric surveys; and, sensor monitoring. The first is usually carried out with empirical methods, the second uses accurate but discrete methods such as geodetic micro-triangulation and the third uses sensor instrumentation, which is usually manually collected. This paper introduces a new approach, using a numerical method called ScanSITES 3D® and SIMon-e®.