California Reservoir, California - Case Study
California Reservoir
California
Case Study
Project Background
A county in California maintains several large dams throughout the county. One dam was deemed to have an elevated risk profile. The dam holds back a water reservoir from a high-income area. If the dam were to fail, irreparable damage and catastrophic consequences for residents downstream would result. To mitigate this unacceptable risk, a need to continuously monitor the overall health and integrity of the dam structure was required.
The Problem
Dams are considered critical infrastructure in the United States and are widely important to maintain to avoid critical failure. A relatively old reservoir in this California county, which holds back a large water reservoir from the residents below, has some concerns about its longevity and safety to the surrounding area. This necessitated a system that could continuously monitor the dam. One new way to monitor dams is to use Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technologies and specialized fiber cables that are designed for sensing. If a sensing fiber cable could be installed, then the dam could be monitored. Unfortunately, trenching or boring a cable into the side of the dam would affect the structural integrity of the dam and was not permitted. Hanging aerially was not an option as the dam rests on a hill surrounded by multi-million-dollar homes with no telephone poles in the area.
The FiberTRAX Solution
A teaming effort between the county, a dam safety company a fiber sensing company, and TRAXyL was initiated. We developed a new way to monitor dams that utilize specialized fiber sensing cables and Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) technology along with TRAXyL’s FiberTRAX installation method. There was a paved road that switch-backed up the dam, making FiberTRAX the preferred method to install the fiber cable as the installation process was determined to not affect the structural integrity of the dam. TRAXyL deployed a team of four people to the dam for installation. Using our two pass TRAXtor fiber installation machines, FiberTRAX was placed along the road that leads to the top of the dam and along the crest of the dam itself. A total of 4699 feet of FiberTRAX was installed over a three-day period to ensure enough areas of the dam structure were covered.
The Bottom-Line Value Added
- The team achieved 4699 feet of FiberTRAX installation over three days that did not impede normal operations.
- The fiber cable was transitioned into a building enabling the optical sensing equipment hookup.
- The installation of FiberTRAX was approved for use on the dam because it was determined that the installation process would not impact the structural integrity of the dam.
- This approval has far reaching implications for FiberTRAX use in monitoring other large critical infrastructure sectors.