Ensuring Dam Safety with The KMIDam Platform

Critical infrastructure such as dams must be operational, stable, and in good structural health as they meet the demands of a community or region. However, severe events like earthquakes, floods, or terrorist attacks pose a significant threat to the safety and integrity of these dams.

The consequences of a dam failure can be catastrophic, not only for the regional economy, but also for people living downstream. In addition, gradual damage accumulates due to numerous factors including aging, cyclic environmental loading, debris blockage, overtopping, settlement, and more. Long-term monitoring of these critical structures is indispensable.

In recent years, improved availability of data has enabled engineers to improve their understanding of the impact of earthquakes on dams, especially where related to peak accelerations experienced by these structures. During the 1994 Northridge event (Mw 6.8), the extensive instrumentation installed at the Pacoima dam in Southern California recorded peak acceleration at the crest that exceeded 2g. Until this time, many engineers questioned the validity of this kind of impact.

The evidence collected helped engineers to accept the reality of higher accelerations and re-evaluate design loading for these critical structures. Data from many studies has also had a positive impact on dam safety, as the analysis of data obtained through long-term monitoring has led to the incorporation of water-structure dynamic interaction and generalized damping in Finite Element Models.

It’s clear that placing data in the hands of those who need it has a profound effect on dam safety.

Kinemetrics, the global leader in seismic platforms and instrumentation, is expanding the reach and usefulness of this data by delivering it to those who need it in real-time before, during, and after earthquakes …click for more