Improvements in the Surveillance of Canal Embankments and Levees

摘要

Whilst the safety of embankment hydraulic structures, and in particular large linear structures such as canals, dykes and levees, remains a major concern, with hundreds of breaches of levees throughout the world every year still, the conventional monitoring methods of these structures is still largely unsuited to early detection of one of the main causes of breaches, which is internal erosion. In order to try and improve the techniques of monitoring these structures, Electricite de France, which owns about 310 mi (500 km) of canals in France, has led major research into developing new methods of detecting internal erosion. These new technologies, based on distributed temperature measurements via optical fibres and a detailed analysis of the structures' failure mechanisms, have already been deployed on 45 mi (72 km) of canals and levees in France. The practical implementation of these new principles of monitoring large linear structures is explained using the example of the project to design and install a new monitoring and surveillance system for the 23 mi (38 km) of levees on the Rhine north of Strasbourg.