Seepage Monitoring of an Embankment Dam Based on Hydro-Thermal Coupled Analysis

Abstract

Distributed temperature sensing (DTS)-based fiber optic sensors are widely used for monitoring spatially continuous temperature distribution in structures. In this research, hydro-thermal (H-T) coupled analysis is used to monitor seepage conditions in an embankment dam. Variably saturated two-dimensional heat transport (VS2DHI), a computer code developed by the U.S. Geological Survey, was used for this coupled analysis. From the coupled analysis, the temperature profile for a dam with an artificially generated crack clearly showed the location of the crack. In addition, it turned out that the temperature change in the dam took much longer than the seepage time due to the additional time required for heat transfer. The study shows that temperature variation in the dam is comparable to the seepage condition with time delay for heat transfer. This study also shows the possibility that temperature data may serve as a tool to diagnose prior seepage conditions and past incidents of a dam.