2020 – Demonstrating risk benefits of improved monitoring and surveillance
Hench Wang, Peter Hill, Sam Banzi, Muhammad Hameed
Dam owners can often struggle to demonstrate the dam safety risk benefits that can be achieved through non-structural risk reduction measures, such as adoption of smart technological solutions that improve the timeliness and quality of decision making. WaterNSW collaborated with HARC to develop a novel way of demonstrating benefits from improved data management. This paper discusses the use of HEC-LifeSim to demonstrate the reduction in life safety risk from improved monitoring through DamGuard for a case study dam in Sydney. DamGuard is a real-time dam safety monitoring system implemented by WaterNSW. This case study was the first time in Australia where a simulation model such as HEC-LifeSim was applied to quantify the life safety risk benefits pre and post the implementation of DamGuard. The implementation of DamGuard to the sample dam was estimated to reduce the life safety risk by 15%.
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Papers 2020
Cloud-Based Monitoring of Geotechnical Structures– Case Study: Hinkley Point Nuclear Power Plant
Learn moreMatthias WILD, James STEWART, Chris IRVIN, Sander Van Ameijde
The awareness of safe and sustainable utilisation of all forms of construction such as bridges, tunnels, dams or industrial buildings during its whole lifetime is increasing more and more. The safe operation of our dams is of critical importance to society. As our assets age, the focus on monitoring, control systems and lifespan management is of increasing importance. Communities need to have peace of mind these assets are not going to fail. To prevent failures of structures, a common method is for periodical or situational site visits to check the crucial points of construction. Site visits are cost intensive, subjective and non-continuous. This results in a global research focus on measurement devices and evaluation systems to generate a full structural health monitoring system which guarantees measurement and data evaluation adapted for the specific application over the full lifespan.
For important structures like the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant or Australian Dam structures it’s not just the inspection costs and a sustainably utilisation during service life that are important. The safety during operation of the nuclear power plant is also critical to its operation. To monitor the deep excavation at the power plant DYWIDAG provided geotechnical systems combined with measurement sensors and a monitoring concept for the lifespan of the structure. About 14,000 soil nails and bar anchors are stabilising the excavation. Movements of the retaining wall will lead to a change of stress in the geotechnical tension members. This change is monitored by DYNA-Force Sensors, which are used for load monitoring. This monitoring system has been used successfully in a range of critical structures like stadium roof-beams, staycables, dam-anchors with strands or bars.
A simple installation and read out of sensors is not a major facilitation compared to site visits. The implementation of sensors in a sophisticated monitoring system is the big advantage of structural health monitoring which guarantees a safe and sustainable utilisation of the construction. DYWIDAG is making infrastructure lifespan management smarter and offers a cloud-based online sensor management system (Platform Interactive) which enables processing of large volumes of sensor data and performing complex calculations. It provides real-time alerting, presenting the information in an innovative and interactive way, removing subjective interpretation and providing numerical data online in real time. Platform Interactive with plug and play pre-configured sensors, may also be adapted and applied for a range of SHM projects. It provides continuous reporting and the reassurance structures are performing as they should without the possibility of failure. At DYWIDAG we are making infrastructure lifespan management smarter, safer, stronger
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Papers 2020
2020 – Challenges in applying new guidelines to existing tailings dams projects
Learn moreMichael Ashley, John Phillips
New guidance and publications relating to tailings dams have been released recently by many jurisdictions across the world as an initial response to recent, well-documented, catastrophic tailings dam failures. The application of new guidelines retrospectively to existing tailings projects can introduce complex challenges, especially for sites with a long and often not well documented history. Challenges can be difficult to overcome while balancing time, cost and risk objectives.
This paper explores the impacts of changes between the 2012 and 2019 revisions of the ANCOLD Guidelines on Tailings Dams and potential implications for existing facilities.
The most significant update between the 2012 and 2019 revisions of the guidelines relating to design practices is the additional detail and guidance on seismic stability analyses and static liquefaction. Guidance on the application of new guidelines for tailings dam designers, owners and regulators is required to provide a consistent approach to manage the risk.
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Papers 2020
2020 – Dynamic Analyses for Static Liquefaction Factor of Safety and Triggering Threshold Values in Tailings Storage Facilities Constructed by Upstream Method
Learn moreQian Gu, Joshua Chan
Tailings Storage Facilities (TSF) constructed using upstream methods may have static liquefaction risks due to the strain softening behaviour of contractive tailings. Conventional Limit Equilibrium Analyses (LEA) using either peak strength or residual strength fail to address the stress-strain compatibilities between materials at different stages of softening or hardening, resulting in over or underestimating embankment stabilities. Static numerical analyses (Finite Element or Difference) are unable to identify the threshold stability due to their inability to converge close to or beyond equilibrium conditions.
In this study the failure triggering process is modelled with dynamic Finite Element Analyses (FEA) with the stress-softening behaviour of contractive tailings simulated by Norsand Model. The embankment failures are identified by either non-zero residual velocities along downstream face, or a drop in average shear stress along potential failure surfaces under increasing disturbing surface pressure. Threshold disturbing surface pressure estimated using these two methods are in close agreements. Factor of Safety (FoS) values estimated from peak mobilised shear strength are found to be between those estimated using the peak and residual shear strength in LEA. q-p’ stress paths in tailings clearly show the stress ratio increasing towards and beyond instability ratio during undrained triggering process. The developments of zones of shear softening and p’ reduction with increasing undrained disturbances help visualise the failure triggering process.
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Papers 2020
2020 – Monte Carlo Geospatial Approach to Liner Design Principles in TSFs
Learn moreGideon Steyl, Ralph Holding, Lis Boczek
A Monte Carlo method for assessing liner systems is applied with outcomes demonstrating the range of discharge that could occur over the liner interface. The Monte Carlo approach allows for variation of fill material over the liner system and includes the assessment of a second compacted zone either above or below the liner zone. In this paper clay liners were evaluated due to regulatory guidelines and it could be demonstrated that similar performance to a 1 m clay liner could be attained using compacted material to reduce discharge over the liner interface. The approach applied in this paper allows for at least a worst-case quantification of seepage risk which could be included in liner selection criteria or presenting liner options to regulators.
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Papers 2020
2020 – Use of Conditional Mean Spectra with Minimum Magnitude less than 5 in Seismic Hazard Analysis
Learn morePaul Somerville, Andreas Skarlatoudis, Jeff Bayless, Polly Guan
The 2019 ANCOLD seismic guidelines state that “A hazard assessment should be conducted for earthquake magnitudes Mw 5 and above. However, under certain circumstances, smaller magnitude earthquakes may form the lower limit. With masonry dams, slab and buttress dams, older concrete dams, and structural concrete components of dams, Mw 4 earthquake magnitudes should form the lower limit.” However, when using probabilistic Uniform Hazard Spectra (UHS) with Mmin less than 5.0 per the 2019 ANCOLD Guidelines, the hazard will be overestimated unless Conditional Mean Spectra (CMS) are used to represent the ground motions. As described by Somerville et al. (2015), use of the UHS can significantly overestimate the seismic hazard levels presented by individual earthquake scenarios because the UHS envelopes the ground motions from multiple earthquake scenarios in one spectrum. This overestimation is especially true of the ground motions from small magnitude earthquake scenarios. The probabilistic UHS may have large short period ground motions with contributions from a range of scenario earthquakes, but if the UHS is used as the design spectrum, these ground motions will often be represented by earthquake scenarios having inappropriately large magnitudes, long durations, and high long period ground motion levels. As a result, these design ground motions have the potential to overestimate the response of the structure under consideration. By using CMS spectra and time histories, the large probabilistic peak accelerations, predominantly from small earthquakes, are better represented by earthquakes having appropriately small magnitudes, short durations, and lower long period ground motion levels, yielding more realistic estimates of the response of the structure.
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