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Proceedings
TOPIC NO. 3
MONITORING AND RESTORATION OF DAMS AND TAILINGS DAMS
23 ASPECTS CONCERNING SURVEILLANCE ACTIVITY
OF THE GURA RÂULUI DAM - ROMANIA
Dumitru Bobocu, Cornel Ilinca, Adrian Popovici 259
24 MODERNIZATION OF MONITORING SYSTEM ON NERETVA POWER
PLANTS
Armin Hadrovic, Ismet Hajduk, Suad Zalihic, Dani Rahimic 271
25 ADVANCED MONITORING OF ROMANIAN DAM PORTFOLIO
Dan Stematiu, Adrian Popovici, Radu Sârghiuţă, Altan Abdulamit,
Catalin Popescu, Daniel Gaftoi 279
26 MONITORING OF SV. PETKA DAM
Zlatko Nikolovski, Aleksandar Jovanovski, Vlatko Mantev 287
ADVANCED MONITORING OF ROMANIAN DAM PORTFOLIO
Dan Stematiu1, Adrian Popovici1, Radu Sârghiuţă1, Altan Abdulamit1,
Catalin Popescu1, Daniel Gaftoi1
Summary
At present, in Romania there are registered 427 dams included in importance classes A
(exceptional) or B (special) that, according to the law, require a special monitoring. The dam
monitoring system well established nowadays is the result of an evolution that in Romania
lasted for half a century. The tracing of this evolution can be done by analysing the changes
recorded in the course of time both in dam instrumentation with measuring devices and in the
data processing and normal behaviour assessment as well. In the recent years new advanced
monitoring approaches were promoted in order to enhance the monitoring activity. The paper
presents in details two such techniques, namely the infrared image techniques employed in
defining the seepage phenomena in embankment dams and systematic in situ dynamic
measurements of vibration modes of concrete dams that may reveal the aging phenomena by
changes in the dynamic characteristics.
Key words: monitoring, seepage, aging, infrared, natural vibration
1,2,3,4,5,6
Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, Bv. Lacul Tei, 124, Sect. 2, Bucharest
stematiu@utcb.ro
1. INTRODUCTION
The dams and their associated reservoirs undoubtedly bring advantages and direct and indirect
benefits to a large part of population. But, at the same time, the dams induce an additional risk
to the population situated downstream of them that could be affected by the uncontrolled
spillage of water from the reservoir in the case of failure or technical accidents.
The recent inventory of dams has identified 2366 dams on Romania’s territory that
correspond to the definitions stipulated by the Water Law and the Dam Safety Law. Among
them, 427 dams are included in importance classes A (exceptional) or B (special) that,
according to the law, require a special monitoring [11].
The role of dam monitoring within the safety management, well established nowadays, is
the result of an evolution that in Romania lasted for half a century. The tracing of this
evolution can be done by analyzing the changes recorded in the course of time both in dam
instrumentation with measuring devices and in the data processing and normal behaviour
assessment as well. The dam monitoring is made by observations and measurements. Usually,
dam monitoring systems employ conventional instruments based on electrical, hydraulic or
pneumatic principles, which yield important information on the changes of different physical
quantities such as pressure, stress, strain, displacement or temperature. Nevertheless, the
values measured by these instruments refer only to their location. Between the positions of the
instruments the distribution of the measured physical parameters has to be estimated. It is
unavoidable that the use of these data for the assessment of the condition of the overall
structure contains uncertainties, especially in the case of lateral dams or dikes that have a
length development.
Effective monitoring of seepage within embankment dams is essential in regards to
management of dam safety and prevention of failure. Effective, early detection of seepage in
embankment dams has been difficult as it originates and develops in the subsurface. Infrared
Thermal Imaging is an appropriate technique that is non-contact, non-intrusive, simple and
flexible.
On the other hand, in the case of concrete dams the aging phenomena are usually present
but can not be directly identified by regular instrumentation. The decrease of concrete strength,
the fissure development, the foundation weathering has as the end result the change of the
overall stiffness of the dam structure. This change has to be early detected in order to be a
starting point for further investigation concerning the actual dam safety.
The dam structure stiffness is directly reflected by its dynamic properties since the natural
vibration properties are depending on the mass (assumed constant) and stiffness. The in situ
measurements of the natural vibration modes (shape and periods) are a very convenient
approach of the dam aging investigation.
These new dam monitoring techniques - infrared thermal imaging and in situ dynamic
measurements - are presented in the followings based on two case studies.
Figure 1. Plan and panoramic view of Ostrovul Mic reservoire and dam
The dikes are made of ballast (sand and gravel). The watertightening system provides
concrete slabs (4.0 x 5.0 m) on the upstream face and a cutoff wall 5 to 6 m deep in the
foundation (Figure 2). The cutoff wall was performed in an open cut excavation of trapezoidal
261 Third Congress on Dams, Struga, June, 2013
shape 4 m in the upper part and 1m at the basis. To allow the closure of the cut-off wall into
the marle bed rock the upper layer of the river aluvium (3 to 5 m) was removed in front of the
dike upstream toe.
The investigations conducted during the low level reservoir operation have revealed
several faults in the actual condition of foundation watertightening: - the cutoff wall is not fully
closed into bedrock; - there are gaps beteen the concrete face support beam and the cut-off
wall; several windows were created in the cut-off wall by oversized blocks in the foundation
ground.
Figure 3. Model calibration: a) infrared and digital images; b) flow net after calibration.
Starting from the permeability values determined in laboratory and having as calibration
target the emergence of the seepage line on the downstream face, the actual permeability
coefficients were defined by an iterative process. The calibration was performed for two
distinctive cases, one considering the cut-off wall closed into the bedrock, the other one
considering a 0.5 m gap between the cut-off wall deep end and and the bedrock. The values are
listed in table 1.
The emergence level on the downstream face shown by the flow net in figure 3
corresponds to the measured one. Simmilar values were obtained in both cases – closed or
263 Third Congress on Dams, Struga, June, 2013
flowting cut-off – thus revealing that the main cause of the recorded seepage phenomena is not
the deficiency of the performed foundation sealing. The simulations pointed out that the most
significant contribution to seepage and to the high level of seepage line is done by the
deteriorated slabs on the lower part of the concrete face and especially by the damaged joint
between the concrete face and the cut-off wall. The excavations in front of the upsream toe,
required to implement the cut-off wall in an open trench, have exposed the most pervious layer
above the bedrock to direct infiltration.
Three rehabilitation alternatives were proposed – jet grouting diaphragm, additional cut-
off wall and PVC geomembrane on upsream face. In order to support the final decision three
comparison criteria were selected: the seepage flow, the condition of the downstream face and
the maximum seepage gradient.
The layouts of the sensors were performed in order to point out the maximum
displacements at the crest level, the characteristics of the fundamental eigenmode of vibration
Трет конгрес за брани, Струга, Јуни, 2013 266
of the dam, together with the frequency content of the recorded signals. The location of
seismometers used in the 2006 campaign for the dam response recording is shown in figure 7.
Seven sensors were simultaneously positioned at the crest level, on a horizontal radial
direction, on a horizontal tangential direction and on a vertical direction. The records have
been carried out taking into account vibration sources as micro tremors, together with
vibrations produced by hydromechanics equipment operating in the body of the dam.
The processing of the data was carried out digitally, which allowed the determination of
mean values, peak-peak values, Fourier spectra and response power spectral densities,
relationships between input and output, auto correlation functions, etc. Following the process
and interpretation of the instrumental data, the natural frequencies/ periods of vibration of the
Paltinu dam have been established. The first – fundamental period of vibration identified by
means of the measurement was T1 = 0.44 sec (f1 = 2.26 Hz).
650
(mASL)
640
630
[mdM]
620
in laclevel
610
600
water
590
580 T1
W Nivel
570
Reservoir
560
550
540
0.42 0.425 0.43 0.435 0.44 0.445
T [s]
New acquired field measurements, in special annual campaigns, are used for assessing the
aging effects. If the new values does not differ significantly from the previous value one can
conclude that the dam has preserved its structural properties. If this is not the case, further
investigation are required in order to evaluate the causes and significance of the changes which
can be due to either ageing or fatigue or structural local degradations.
REFERENCE
[1] Abdulamit, A., Stematiu, D., Toma, I. (1995) Identification of Dynamic Elastic Material Properties Using
Hybrid Models, Proceedings New Advances in Modal Synthesis of Large Structures. Non-linear, Damped
and Non-deterministic Cases, Lyon, France, October.
[2] Allen, R. (2011) Safety Evaluations of Hidden Dam – Seepage Models Meet Reality. 2011 AEG Annual
Meeting.
[3] CRWMS M&O (2001). Seepage Calibration Model and Seepage Testing Data. 153045MDL-NBS-HS
000004 REV 01. Las Vegas, Nevada.
[4] FLIR SYSTEMS.(2006). ThermaCAM TM B4. User manual.
[5] Guardo, M., Rohrer, K, P. (2000) Calibration of a steady-state seepage model from transient recovery of
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94.
269 Third Congress on Dams, Struga, June, 2013
[6] Moel, M. (2010). Seepage Detection within Embankment Dams Using Infrared Thermal Imaging.
Proceedings of the 2010 ANCOLD Conference.
[7] Sarghiuta, R., Abdulamit, A., Bugnariu, T. (2007) Safety Assessment of Arch Dams using Global Elastic
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of March 4, 1977 Bucharest, Romania
[8] Shutko I and col. (2009). New Technologies in Monitoring and Emergency Mapping of Water Seepage
and Dangerously High Groundwater. Research report.
[9] Stematiu, D., Bugnariu, T., Toma, I. (1995) Global Elastic Modula for Arch Dams, Proceedings of the
Conference on Research and Development in the Field of Dams, Crans–Montana, Switzerland September.
[10] Stematiu, D. (2008). Use of infrared images to revealed infiltrations from tailings dams (in Romanian).
Hidrotehnica, Vol. 53, Nr. 12.
[11] *** Dam Safety Law No 466 (2001) M.Of. Nr. 428/31 iul. 2001 (in Romanian).