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Xian International Symposium on Dam Safety
25 Nov 2005
Sensornet, HydroResearch and Bandweaver jointly exhibited at the International Symposium on Dam Safety and Detection of Hidden Troubles in Xian, China in October 2005
The key note speaker of the conference was Markus Aufleger from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. Markus presented the opening speech of the conference and made several references to fiber optic technology and the importance of this emerging technology in the field of dam monitoring. He also made several references to 'Sensornet' when referring to fibre optic technology and the advances being made.
Sam Johansson from HydroResearch presented a paper that he co-authored with Mahmoud Farhadiroushan from Sensornet entitled "Seepage and strain monitoring in embankment dams using distributed sensing in optical fibres". The paper was based on theoretical background and experiences from installations based in Sweden.
Sam Johansson (HydroResearch) presenting a paper at the International Symposium on Dam Safety, Xian, China 2005
The main points of the paper Sam Johansson presented included:
- Measurements of seepage and movement are fundamental for dam surveillance, and are performed to various degrees at the majority of dams around the world. Recent developments in distributed measurements using optical fibres have radically improved the ability to measures these parameters. This technology is being recognised as the most effective way to detect seepage flow changes with high sensitivity along the entire dam.
- Temperature measurement is the most sensitive and reliable geophysical method to detect and quantify seepage flow. The best application of the method is long term monitoring, where slow and small seepage flow changes can be detected.
- Sensornet and HydroResearch have installed optical fibres for monitoring of seepage and/or movements in more than 20 dams, dykes and tailing dams at 16 different dam sites in Sweden to date. Sensornet’s DTS and DTSS allow monitoring of seepage and movements over the entire length of a dam, with measurements taken every 1m. The systems can be used either as an Early-Warning-System with continuous monitoring, or as an investigation tool to measure movements regularly.
To view a full version of this paper presented at the conference please click on the link below.
Download PDF: 
Xian Conference 2006 - Dam monitoring1.pdf
(614 kb)
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