Analysis of the percolation flow of 133 earth and rockfill dams and control values for flow meters

Abstract

Worldwide, legal measures have been intensified with the aim of reducing dam accidents through government management and oversight. However, it is important to emphasize the evaluation of damages and anomalies caused by dam breaches. Geotechnical engineering currently benefits from a vast collection of data obtained through geotechnical instrumentation monitoring, which provides valuable information for the verification and validation of new projects. Utilizing this data helps in interpreting the static and dynamic behaviour of geotechnical structures, as well as supporting the adjustment and calibration of physical and computational models regarding the infiltration behaviour through dam embankments. The primary objective of this research is to consolidate real data from the monitoring history of executed and operational works in Brazil, contributing to the analysis of instrumentation through the inclusion of real flow rate values observed in flow meters. Moreover, it aims to enrich existing data in bibliographic references that assist in analysing the sensitivity of instrumentation readings. The accessed data were selected from the database of a design company, typically consisting of construction reports and historical data of instrumentation readings related to the monitoring of Brazilian dams. The results comprise consolidated real data of specific infiltration flow rates in earth and rockfill dams.