Toward a Comprehensive Dam Monitoring: On-Site and Remote-Retrieved Forcing Factors and Resulting Displacements (GNSS and PS–InSAR)

Antonino Maltese,Gino Dardanelli,Jan-Peter Muller,Claudia Pipitone,Fulvio Capodici

doi:10.3390/rs13081543

Antonino Maltese, Gino Dardanelli + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/rs13081543

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Journal: Remote sensing	Publication Date: Apr 16, 2021
Citations: 22	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Palermo, University College London

Abstract

Many factors can influence the displacements of a dam, including water level variability and environmental temperatures, in addition to the dam composition. In this work, optical-based classification, thermal diachronic analysis, and a quasi-PS (Persistent Scatter) Interferometric SAR technique have been applied to determine both forcing factors and resulting displacements of the crest of the Castello dam (South Italy) over a one-year time period. The dataset includes Sentinel-1A images acquired in Interferometric Wide swath mode using the Terrain Observation with Progressive Scans SAR (TOPSAR); Landsat 8 Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) thermal images, and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) for interpreting the motion of the top of the dam retrieved via interferometry. Results suggest that it is possible to monitor both dam water level and temperature periodic forcing factors and resulting displacements via a synergistic use of different satellite images.

Highlights

The monitoring of dam displacements plays a crucial role in the detection of unsafe conditions, requiring appropriate management actions and/or counteractive measures from the early stages [1]
Dam displacements can be due to several factors, including the consolidation of the embankment materials, the dam composition itself, and forcing factors
The full-graph Multi Baseline Connection (MBC) method introduces all possible connections amongst image pairs, using all interferograms, including those with longer temporal baseline than the ones eventually involved in the classical PS technique

Summary

Introduction

The monitoring of dam displacements plays a crucial role in the detection of unsafe conditions, requiring appropriate management actions and/or counteractive measures from the early stages [1]. The early detection of a dam instability should constitute a key component of any dam maintenance plan and could lead to structural stabilisation to prevent any initial warning from turning into a disaster [2]. Dam displacements can be due to several factors, including the consolidation of the embankment materials, the dam composition itself (including mineralogy, grain size, density of the compacted material, etc.), and forcing factors (including temperature, water level fluctuations, etc.). Concrete dams exhibit a nonlinear trend of the displacement related to thermal and hydrological loads [3], while irreversible displacements are assumed to behave linearly over time [4] In these structures, the linear component of displacements is assumed to be the irreversible part of the displacements themselves, and the corresponding velocity is strongly connected to the stability of the structure [5] and is interpreted as the aging term.

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