<title>Dam monitoring with fiber optics deformation sensors</title>

Abstract

The monitoring of dams represents an important task in the management of hydroelectric systems. Their economic, social and environmental value imposes to know well the real behavior of the structure and its foundations. This paper shows in two practical cases the possibility to improve the quality of deformation measurements by an appropriate fiber optics sensor network. The first case is a study showing the technical and economical feasibility to install an extended, spatial fiber optics deformation sensor network to detect the relative deflection of an entire shell dam. At this purpose of theoretical study has been evaluated on the base of typical load situations with their effective deflections on the Schiffenen dam, a shell-shaped concrete structure near Fribourg. The second case concerns the development and realization of two long fiber optics deformation sensors anchored in the rock to monitor the displacement of the dam relatively to its underground. These sensors have been installed in the Emosson shell dam.