Abstract

Monitoring of structures during construction and their exploitation is a common practice, often required by investors and/or national standards, to ensure that the structures performance is satisfactory with regards to the defined limit states. For this purpose, various quantities are measured, all related and most indicative of problems arising from approaching a specific limit state. In geotechnical practice, these usually include pore-water pressures, deformations, stresses, and temperatures. All the mentioned measurements can be either conducted and collected manually at discrete time intervals, or automatically such that data is collected remotely almost continuously. When equipment to measure and collect these quantities automatically is installed into a levee, the result is what is called a Smart Levee. Its purpose should be to provide data in real time to existing prediction models which can then predict any critical behaviour of the levee before failure occurs. Since most of commonly used the equipment for gathering the mentioned quantities is designed to collect data in a single point along the levee, the monitored sections should be spaced such that each is representative of a longer reach. Alternatively, equipment that allows for gathering data along a line should be used, to be placed along the whole stretch of levees which need to be monitored. Examples of such equipment mostly include fibre optic cables for strain and temperature measurements, and stationary or UAV-mounted terrain surveying equipment. This paper gives a review of the practices in constructing Smart Levees throughout the world, discussing the most commonly used equipment and monitored quantities, with the expected results and their application.