Abstract
The vast majority of dam emergency siren systems are activated by a dam operator upon visual confirmation of a dam breach. The objective of this project was to devise an inexpensive dam breach alarm system that is triggered autonomously, nearly immediately during a dam failure with low false alarm frequency. The project team researched the most commonly available technologies that could be applicable and developed an innovative adaptation to an existing technology.
The solution consists of a set of electrical wires forming several circuits buried in the dam embankment crest and anchored so that when the dam fails, the wires would be severed, the circuits interrupted and a datalogger which checks the circuit integrity at a near constant rate would trigger the alarm system activating the emergency siren system.
The developed solution was successfully installed and commissioned in five high risk dams and was operational during the time the recommended dam stabilization works were implemented. The project demonstrated the benefit of multidisciplinary teamwork and highlights the value that open communication and discussions between the dam owner and geotechnical engineering team can bring to the project. The dam breach detection system has not yet been required to be tested in an actual dam breach.
