Background

The project AIM-DAMS is aimed at developing a laboratory of integrated and advanced environmental monitoring for the control of the behavior of the earth-dams due to the different factors acting on the dams during their lifetime. Based on the integration of innovative and non-invasive sensors, as well as recent monitoring techniques and numerical modelling, the project is intended to fulfill the need of the dam management agencies of using advanced and automatized monitoring systems, also based on ICT instruments.

Purpose

AIM-DAMS is oriented to fulfill the need of the dam management agencies of using innovative, reliable and non-invasive monitoring techniques. The project has the objective of testing methodologies and techniques for the setup of an integrated monitoring system of the earth-dams that allows for the remote and real-time control of the dam behavior, as a support for the assessment of the risk associated.

Methods

The methods that have been developed in AIM-DAMS include:

• integration of advanced monitoring techniques, as for example ground-based and satellite-based interferometry techniques, to be integrated by in-situ monitoring techniques
• validation of the monitoring data by means of the comparison with a three-dimensional finite element model of the dam behavior as a reference
• setup of an information platform for the integration of different measurements and the real-time control of the dam behavior.

Results

The project results include:

• verifying the feasibility and potentialities of the interferometry monitoring techniques of the dams,
• setup of 3-D numerical models for the interpretation and the calibration of the observed dam behavior
• development of an information platform for dam management purposes.

Products

AIM-DAMS has produced:

• global maps of dam deformation
• 3-D stress-strain numerical models of the dams behavior
• digital platform for the integrated management of the monitoring data and the results of numerical models.