Dam / Hypropower Plant (HPP) Seismic Monitoring Instrumentation Network
Karkheh Dam and Hydro Power Plant
Iran

One of the likely effects of climate change across the world is that over the next 10 years or so in certain geographical areas there could be an increased need for dam monitoring equipment.

Since the dynamic behaviour of dams under severe earthquake motion is not known satisfactorily, data from strong motion instruments can form the basis for a more reliable seismic assessment of the existing and future dams.
GeoSIG has maintained a strong presence around the world in the form of dam monitoring solutions.

The scope of the Karkheh project was of a dam monitoring system requiring instrumentation to record seismic motions, reservoir effects and other ambient dynamic activity in order to continuously monitor dam structural safety within the context of a safe operating dam environment.

Once the data has been processed it is assessed and compared as dam behaviour against seismic design criteria applicable to dam operations.  The project included the development and improvement of dam emergency and safety measuring equipment within the context of increased awareness and contributed to the regional seismic data management systems.

Summary of systems table of the Karkeh Dam monitoring solution

Solution	Product
6 x Sensors	Force Balance Accelerometer AC-63
6 x Strong Motion Recorders	GSR-18 Strong Motion Recorders
6 x Digitisers	GSD-18 Digitisers
2 x Repeaters Transmission System (> 3 km)	Interconnection cabling and modem system
Central Processing System Centre	Processing & Reporting Software Solution

The outputs are data for dynamic seismic dam monitoring being stored by software solutions with recordings on an event basis.