Review of dam monitoring and data management techniques

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The current study was conducted for Energi Norge as part of the project “Dam safety in a holistic perspective” and has been translated from the original Norwegian version. The translation was commissioned by Statkraft Energi AS. The report gives an overview of real problems, threats, and failure mechanisms faced by dams. The study is a desktop study of Norwegian and international practice, and focuses specifically on the main types of instrumentation - from traditional to experimental - especially those that can be remotely monitored and easily integrated with other systems. A review of available software tools for dam monitoring was conducted and advice for dam owners who wish to set up such a system is given. Furthermore, the report contains practical examples on the presentation ofdata from different monitoring instruments. The report makes recommendations for the setting of threshold values and their reliability, and refers to multiple examples, both international and Norwegian.