Surveillance & monitoring |
Smart dam monitoring boosts safety
Yuba Water Agency leverages Bentley’s iTwin Applications to revolutionize New Bullards Bar Dam monitoring, bolstering safety and risk assessment while reducing costs and improving efficiency, writes Sandra DiMatteo
SITUATED IN THE YUBA COUNTY foothills along the edge of Tahoe National Forest on the North Yuba River, New Bullards Bar Dam is a 645ft-tall concrete arch dam. It is the second tallest dam in California, and the fifth tallest in the United States. The dam has a capacity to hold 1.19km3
Addressing site, survey, security, of water, which forms the
Above: Yuba Water implemented a digital automated survey and monitoring system to better understand the entire performance of New Bullards Bar Dam, ensuring safe, reliable operations Image courtesy of Yuba Water Agency
New Bullards Bar Reservoir that provides flood control and serves as a popular recreation area. The reservoir also ensures colder downstream river temperatures for fishery enhancement. Owned and operated by Yuba Water Agency, the dam was constructed in 1970 as part of the Yuba River Development project, which was aimed at reducing flood risk, generating clean hydropower, and ensuring a reliable water supply for county residents and the environment. Committed to dam safety and efficient, reliable infrastructure operations, Yuba Water sought to modernize the dam monitoring system by collecting continuous, real-time operational data. “The project was implemented so Yuba Water can better understand the entire performance of New Bullards Bar Dam, especially when dealing with inclement weather and seismic events,” said Tim Truong, chief dam safety engineer at Yuba Water. With multiple monitoring prisms and pylons, the new automated system provides real-time monitoring of the movement of the dam structure as time passes and it is exposed to different natural elements. The project has improved dam safety by allowing for quicker detection of abnormal deformation of the dam, which could result in more timely investigations and possible risk reduction measures.
and safety risks Implementing the new monitoring system involved performing drone surveys and installing automated survey equipment for detecting 3D deflection, as well as monitoring any propagation or deformation of the dam structure. The project required establishing local survey benchmarks, installing reflective survey targets across the dam face, and building a secure enclosure house to protect the automated motorized station. Challenges faced by the project team included securing permitting and approvals for drilling and installing devices directly to the dam, as well as the engineering and construction activities necessary to build a dedicated enclosure for survey equipment at a location with visibility of the entire downstream dam face. Compounding these issues was the steep terrain around the dam, accessible only via a narrow, restricted road. The dam’s previous monitoring system posed safety hazards, requiring time-consuming, costly, and hazardous manual data collection that spanned only a portion of the dam. To reduce personnel safety risks, Yuba Water wanted to implement a more cost-efficient, safe, and comprehensive automated monitoring system, eliminating manual surveys. They sought to implement an integrated reality modeling and digital twin solution to remotely collect and visualize real-time data and automate alerts and reports of potential issues, while securing the on-site station equipment necessary to perform the digital monitoring.
Leveraging iTwin Capture and iTwin
IoT to automate dam monitoring Yuba Water used iTwin Capture to process an existing 3D reality mesh of the entire dam from thousands of drone-captured images and uploaded
“Going digital has allowed us to communicate the needs of the project effectively with the members of our team and visualize the data in real time.” Tim Truong, Chief Dam Safety Engineer, Yuba Water
18 | November 2023 |
www.waterpowermagazine.com
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