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Construction Monitoring: For Earth Dams

Construction monitoring of earth dams through instrumentation is important to ensure proper materials and construction practices are used, and to allow quick modifications if needed. Full-time on-site inspection is required. Instrumentation should not slow construction and must consider contractor practices. Key instruments include piezometers to monitor water pressures, inclinometers to monitor slope movements, settlement gauges, and extensometers. Proper placement and protection of instruments is important. Remote monitoring allows ongoing data collection.

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hiran peiris
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61 views

Construction Monitoring: For Earth Dams

Construction monitoring of earth dams through instrumentation is important to ensure proper materials and construction practices are used, and to allow quick modifications if needed. Full-time on-site inspection is required. Instrumentation should not slow construction and must consider contractor practices. Key instruments include piezometers to monitor water pressures, inclinometers to monitor slope movements, settlement gauges, and extensometers. Proper placement and protection of instruments is important. Remote monitoring allows ongoing data collection.

Uploaded by

hiran peiris
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Construction

Monitoring
For Earth Dams
Reasons for Construction
Monitoring
 Ensure proper materials are used
 Ensure proper construction and design is
followed
 Quickly modify design and construction
practices based on encountered site conditions

IT IS IMPERATIVE TO HAVE FULL TIME SITE


INSPECTION
Inspection Requirements

 Must not hinder or slow down contractor


 Must work with contractor
 Must consider contractor construction practices
Construction Monitoring

MATERIALS
 Grain size distribution analysis of materials
 Core, filters, drains
 Make sure material installed meets specifications
 Make sure that the borrow materials do not change…
Construction Monitoring

MATERIAL tests
 Triaxial extension/shear – filter and core
 Consolidation – core m
v
 Hydraulic conductivity
 Lab tests:
 filters - Constant or falling head
 core – triaxial
 Field clay:
 Double ring infiltrometer
 Centrifuge permeanometer
Construction Monitoring

Proctor Tests
 Source materials in borrow pit
 Materials hauled to site
 Field Compaction
 Uncompacted layer thickness (300mm max)
 Compaction equipment is suitable
 Moisture content and Maximum dry density
 Nuclear Density, sand cone, rubber balloon
 Make sure Nuclear density is calibrated
Goal of Compaction

 Place loose soil in the field and compact it to


make soil strong as possible
 Maximum shear strength
 Very little settlement
 Low hydraulic conductivity

 Find soil lowest emin ……highest dry unit weight


Knead Clay Chunks

Sheepsfoot roller
 Soil compacted wet
optimum will be ductile
and self healing
 Soils compacted dry of
optimum will be brittle
and suspectible to
cracking
 Specify optimum plus 2%
for clay cores
Soil Compaction Measurement
Soil Compaction Measurement
 Use dry sand with known
dry density and specific
gravity
 Use dry sand to get
volume of hole
 Quick and reliable
method
Soil Compaction Measurement
 Use radioactive material
to get moisture content
and soil density
 Quick method
 Reliable if calibrated
 Radioactive device
therefore special
transportation and rules
must be followed
Compaction Specification

Insitu dry unit weigh t


Compaction level (%)  x 100
Max. dry unit weigh t (Proctor)

Standard Proctor Specification


 95 to 100 percent of MDUW

Modified Proctor Specification


 92 to 98 percent of MDUW
Compaction Specification
 Make sure compacted
soil same as Proctor
material (grain size
distribution analysis)
 Add water to soil if too
dry

95% Field
Specification
Field Instrumentation
 Measure performance of structure during
construction
 Long-term monitoring of structure behaviour and
health
 Must not impact structure performance

Geotechnical instrumentation can reduce undesirable


consequences from construction. These consequences
may be the results of adverse performances, damage to
the adjacent facility and/or delays.
Justification for Instrumentation

 Engineers should developed justifications for


geotechnical instrumentation program on their
projects
 In practice such programs are used to save lives,
save money and/ or reduce risk of failure

In concept, these are simple and easy to understand


benefits but in practice it is difficult to quantify
Reasons to Install Instrumentation
 Indicate impending failures
 Provide a warning
 Reveal unknowns
 Evaluate critical design assumptions
 Assess contractor's means and methods
 Minimize damage to the adjacent structures
 Control construction
 Control operation
 Provide data to help select remedial methods to fix problems
 Documents performance for assessing damages
 Inform stakeholders
 Satisfy regulators
 Reduce litigation
 Advanced state- of – knowledge
Field Instrumentation
 Piezometers
 Excess pwp in core during compaction
 Uplift pressures
 Foundation head loss
 Core pheatic surface
 Inclinometers
 Stability of slopes and foundations
 Settlement gauges
 Extensometers
 Total earth pressures (soil arching)
Suggested Piezometer locations

Earth fill dam:


1- Control placement of fill, monitor pwp to find shear strength and measure uplift pressure
2- Control placement of fill, monitor pwp to find shear strength and measure uplift pressure
and monitor seepage
3- Control placement of fill and monitor seepage.
Piezometer
Inclinometers:

Monitor lateral earth movements in embankment e.g. detect movement


of D/S of earth fill dam, particularly during impounding. Determine type of
shear and zone in foundation. Monitor stability of U/S slope during and
after impounding. Determine depth, direction, magnitude and rate of
movement
Inclinometer
system
(Courtesy of N. Sivakugan,

James Cook University,


Australia)
Inclinometer:

Embankment:

•Locate shear zone and help identify whether shear is planner or circular
•Measure the movement at the shear zone. Determine whether the
movement is constant, accelerating or slowing.
Inclinometer must be founded into solid foundation
5- Tilt meter: Monitor changes in the tilt of the structure. Activities such as dewatering,
tunnelling, excavation causes settlement or lateral deformation. Placement of
surcharge and pressure may cause heaves. Dam impounding, excavation beyond
diaphragm wall etc.

Monitor differential settlement

Dewatering
6- Settlement cell: Pneumatic settlement provide a single point measurement of
settlement. They can be read from central location and arte particularly useful where
asses is difficult. Monitor consolidation during construction and long term
settlement in the foundation of the fill.

Earth fill dam


Settlement cell

Monitor long term settlement and consolidation in the


foundation of embankments
Settlement cell
7- Bore hole extensometer: Monitor settlement heaves, convergence, and lateral deformation in the
soil and rock

For vertical settlement profile


Borehole extensometer:

Earth fill dam:


Monitor vertical settlement in the toe of the dam ( Magnetic
extensometer)
Borehole extensometer

Embankment:

Monitor settlement to determine when construction can continue. ( Magnetic


extensometer used inside the inclinometer)
8- Total pressure cell: Measured combined pressure of effective stress and pwp
Embankment dam
Verify assumptions and warn of the soil pressures in excess of those a structure
is designed to withstand. It determine distribution, magnitude and direction of
the total stress.
Earth pressure cell
(Courtesy of N. Sivakugan, James Cook University, Australia)
Total pressure cell
Rock fill dam

SM: Strong motion accelerograph ( for monitoring earth tremors) TS: temperature
sensor EX: Extensometer( Identify movement of dam base and ground at base) PZ:
piezometers PC: Pressure cell W: V-Notch weir SC: settlement cell WL: water level
meter
Earthfill dam

SM: Strong motion accelerograph ( for monitoring earth tremors) TS: temperature
sensor EX: Extensometer( Identify movement of dam base and ground at base) PZ:
piezometers PC: Pressure cell W: V-Notch weir SC: settlement cell WL: water level
meter
Key Components for Design of
Instrumentation
 Put in redundancy
 Instruments will get lost due to construction activities
 Equipment will stop working
 Protect equipment from contractors

Put in safe areas
 Mark equipment
 Protect it during installation and post installation
 Spend money so can remotely monitor and collect data
 Consider data analysis cost
Key References
Geotechnical Instrumentation for Monitoring Field
Performance by John Dunnicliff 1993 Wiley & Sons

Rock Slope Engineering by Hoek & Bray 3rd Edition – Can


be downloaded from web. By searching Evert Hoek

US Corps of Engineers- Instrumentation of Embankments


Dams and Levees (posted on course website)

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