Extended reality in the safety control of dams

Abstract

Dam Safety Control has been at the front line of technology adoption in what concerns data acquisition. However, it does not take full advantage of the latest advancements when it comes to in-situ, real-time, information visualization. This work explores the application of Augmented Reality to the inspection and monitoring of large Civil Engineering structures, namely concrete dams. The proposed approach focuses on offering new visualization possibilities, that are not accessible through traditional means, to Dam Safety Control. In that scope, it depicts the specification and development of a proof-of-concept prototype that allows the monitoring of relevant structural-related information in an Augmented Reality environment. In particular, it offers an easy and straightforward way for Civil Engineers and Observation Technicians a mean to access data from the network of sensors situated in the downstream face and the interior of the structure. Besides providing insightful information on the current status, it allows exploring the evolution in time of values registered in each sensor. A preliminary study aimed at validating the proposed approach shows that Augmented Reality technologies can be used efficiently in Dam Safety Control.