Scientific and technological advances in monitoring systems allow for the automation of the measurement, transmission and data processing, as happens in the Portuguese dams with automated monitoring systems. However, as measuring has become increasingly easy, the increase in the amount of data available is significant, as well as the number of potential errors associated with the measuring process. The assessme...
No âmbito da automatização das atividades relacionadas com o controlo de segurança de grandes barragens de betão, o LNEC promoveu, em 2004, o desenvolvimento do sistema GestBarragens1. Tendo em conta a confiança adquirida ao longo de várias décadas nos instrumentos de recolha manual, cujo funcionamento se baseia em princípios físicos relativamente simples, a validação das medições efetuadas com os sistemas de r...
O sistema de observação de uma barragem de betão inclui o conjunto de dispositivos instalados para medição das grandezas selecionadas para o controlo de segurança da obra. Ao resultado da medição de uma grandeza, produto final de todo um processo experimental e analítico para a obtenção de um valor atribuível a essa grandeza, está sempre associado um grau de incerteza dependente de diversos fatores (instrumento...
To improve the effectiveness of concrete dam safety control in real time, a method is presented for the construction of decision rules for the early detection of developing failure scenarios. The decision rules are based on the use of linear discriminant models developed with data obtained through mathematical models of the dam’s behaviour. The aim is to combine the physical quantities measured by the automated...
The purpose of this research work is to identify the effect of the daily variation of the air temperature on the structural response of a concrete dam. It is intended to obtain a better knowledge about structural behaviour of concrete dams. In current day to day activities, quantitative interpretation models are used for the assessment of structural dam behaviour of concrete dams. Most models ignore the tempera...
In its lifetime, a dam can be exposed to significant water level variations and seasonal environmental temperature changes. The structural safety control of a concrete dam is supported by monitoring activities and is based on models. In practice, the interpretation of recorded concrete dam displacements is usually based on HST (hydrostatic, seasonal, time) statistical models. These models are widely used and co...
A monitoring system has been detecting progressive displacements in Fagilde dam, completed in 1984. Site inspection revealed the existence of random cracking, surface discoloration, and superficial dissolution of cement in the spillway surfaces and in the upstream face of the dam. The macroscopic signs of deterioration, which could be due to different mechanisms, showed an uneven distribution in the exposed sur...
The safety of the system formed by the dam, its foundation, the reservoir, and the downstream area of the dam should be evaluated on its structural, hydraulic, operational and environmental components. In particular, the structural safety assessment of an existing dam is based on the establishment of correlations between the main loads, its structural properties, and its structural responses. The values of obse...
A Nova Barragem do Alto Ceira, atualmente em construção, é uma barragem abóbada, em betão, com 41m de altura e 133m de comprimento no coroamento, situada na zona centro de Portugal. A necessidade de construção da nova barragem prende-se com a substituição da existente, situada cerca de 200m a montante, a qual se encontra significativamente degradada devido a fenómenos de expansão do betão. Como é usual, o proje...