RISK AND FAILURE MODES BASED CONTROL METHODOLOGY FOR HIGH HEAD RADIAL GATES ON LARGE DAMS

摘要

This document presents a draft report of an academic research related to a case study of a high head radial gate at a bottom outlet work on a large dam. The approach of this study is addressed to determine the most critical incidence over the safety of the dam, related to the failure modes of the radial gate during its operation with partial opening and controlled flow. Considering a sudden flood it is desired to determine which failure mode could affect critically dam safety, the environment or downstream inhabitants. This research is primarily based on not only literature review and some recognized risk assessment methods, but also on expert judgments from some senior engineers who have worked on some of the biggest hydroelectric projects in Colombia. Although hydraulic gates have been considered such safe and reliable equipment on large dams in the world, some accidents have occurred in Colombia with uncontrolled flow across bottom discharges on some dams, causing damage and consequences over the environment. To achieve this goal it will be used a failure mode prioritization method based on the analytical hierarchy process applying an expert assessment survey developed particularly for this case study. KHigh head gates;;failure modes;;structural risk;;decision making.