The nowadays-available dynamic monitoring equipment integrating very sensitive low noise sensors creates an opportunity to implement continuously operating dynamic monitoring systems in dams and validate the suitability of these systems to monitor such massive structures with the goal of detecting damage. The detection of abnormal structural behaviour, that may indicate the occurrence of damage, can be based on...
The Baixo Sabor hydroelectric power plant, located in the northeast of Portugal, includes a reservoir with a storage capacity of 630 million m(3) of water created by a concrete double-curvature arch dam, 123 m high, which was equipped with a vibration based structural health monitoring system. This system involves 20 uniaxial accelerometers, 12 of them radially disposed in a gallery close to the dam crest, and ...