A Model for Dam Health Monitoring

Quantitative analysis of monitoring data obtained from concrete dams can provide useful information about the behavior of dams, permit prediction of the future values by considering the corresponding actions, and detect abnormalities (or irregularities) as early as possible to enable a timely response. It can also contribute to options regarding the building process and to control of the construction program during construction. As a rule, the traditional statistic models can be used in quantitative analysis of monitoring data. A statistic model is established on the basis of all monitoring data. After a long time (maybe several years), the coefficients in the model are updated. Before updating, the old coefficients are always used without considering the new measurements added. As a result, the reliability and accuracy of the prediction with the models are doubtful. Therefore, the models are essentially static. To monitor the dam in real time, it is necessary to update the models dynamically. To overcome the drawback of the traditional statistic model, a dynamic model for dam monitoring, based on a recursive method, is set up. An example is provided, and it shows that the quality of prediction of the dynamic model presented is better than that of the static model. If the dynamic model is used along with automatic monitoring system, it can monitor a dam in real time and predict the behavior of the dam more accurately.