Baishan Dam

Northeast China

Baishan Dam is a 149.5 m high gravity arch dam on the 2nd Songhua River. It is one of the largest dams in the northeast of China. The dam is 677.5 m in length and was constructed using 1,663 km³ of concrete. It impounds a 6,500,000,000 m³ reservoir and has the capability to control a 19,100 m³/s flood from a 19,000 km³ catchment. Over 100 vibrating wire instruments, including vibrating wire Piezometers to monitor uplift pressures, and vibrating wire Tiltmeters to monitor deflections, have been installed in this dam.

For additional information, please contact:

Jiang Xiaogang at Geokon Beijing Co.

Barrios De Luna Dam

Barrios De Luna, Leon, Spain

At the Barrios De Luna Dam, Piezometers installed in the foundation are being used to monitor uplift pressures while Crackmeters, installed between concrete blocks (15 m below the crest), measure any opening or closing of the joints between the same.

For additional information, please contact:

Javier Andreu at Ingeneria de Instrumentacion Y Control

Moravka Dam

Czech Republic

Moravka Dam is located in the northern part of the Moravian and Silesian Beskydy Mountains. Commissioned in 1967, the dam provides water to the city of Ostrava and the surrounding region. Moravka Dam is an earthfill dam, with a bituminous concrete upstream face. It is 395 m in length and 39 m high. During floods in 1996, the upstream face was damaged and had to be replaced. At this time it was also decided to provide additional remedial measures to further improve the safety. The restoration included improved drainage of underground water from the left and right abutments and sealing of the old grout curtain. An extensive instrumentation system, comprised of vibrating wire Piezometers, Inclinometers, Extensometers and a Micro-10 Datalogger system, was installed to monitor the efficacy of the repairs and to provide a real-time dam safety analysis.

For additional information, please contact:

Ing. Ludek Novosad at G4C

Hiwassee Dam and Power Plant

North Carolina, USA

The Hiwassee Dam and Power Plant on the Hiwassee River near Murphy, North Carolina, was built by TVA between 1936 to 1940 as a flood control and electrical generating facility.

Concrete growth at Hiwassee Dam, caused by an alkali-aggregate reaction (AAR) has caused expansion of the dam, partially closing the spillway, jamming the gates and causing significant structural cracking in the abutments.

Over the years various types of remedial action have been undertaken, including the cutting of slots and the installation of post tensioned anchors on the spillway piers. At present there are approximately 325 instruments connected to six automated systems monitoring the dam and the efficacy of the remediation.

A database (MultiLoggerDB from Canary Systems, Inc.), to manage the instrumentation data was deployed in 2004 and has been in continuous operation since.

For additional information regarding the project, please contact:

David Tanner at TVA

For additional information regarding data acquisition, please contact:

Alex Neuwirt at Canary Systems, Inc.