Geophysical investigation and monitoring of dam infrastructure

Non-invasive, geophysical investigation of dam structures has been utilised by the geoengineering sector for decades. TerraDat has over 25 years of experience of carrying out geophysical surveys and has a good understanding of both the successes and limitations of the various techniques. More recently, there has been demand to not only determine the existence of leaks or structural defects, but also to monitor such features over time and provide information about the composition and condition of all the structural components at reservoirs. This paper reviews the ground-based geophysical methods, which are most widely used to investigate dams and spillways, and presents case studies of their effective use. The paper also presents the results from a new real-time monitoring system for the detection of leaks using the self-potential method to identify subsurface water flow.