Development and In Situ Application of Deformation Monitoring System for Concrete-Face Rockfill Dam Using Fiber Optic Gyroscope

Deformation monitoring is of importance to ensure the operation status of concrete-face rockfill dams (CFRD). This paper reported a novel fiber optic gyroscope (FOG) monitoring system for continuously monitoring face slab deformation of CFRD, which consisted of a permanent monitoring pipeline and a sensing vehicle. The monitoring pipeline was made of steel pipes and polyvinyl chloride polymer connectors, which was embedded in a slot of the crushing-type sidewall beneath the concrete face slab of CFRD, forming a permanent monitoring channel. The sensing vehicle was equipped with a high-precision FOG sensor. A low-pass filter was designed to eliminate the vibration noise of the angular velocities of the sensing vehicle during the monitoring process. An in situ test was carried out on the Shuibuya dam, the highest CFRD in the world. The measurements of the FOG monitoring system agreed well with traditional instrument measurements, serving as validation of the system. The FOG monitoring system has the advantages of excellent repeatability, long service life, distributed monitoring, and automatic measurement.