Characterizing post-construction settlement of the Masjed-Soleyman embankment dam, Southwest Iran, using TerraSAR-X SpotLight radar imagery

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Lotfollah Emadali
  • Mahdi Motagh
  • Mahmud Haghshenas Haghighi

External Research Organisations

  • Helmholtz Centre Potsdam - German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ)
  • University of Tehran
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)261-273
Number of pages13
JournalEngineering Structures
Volume143
Early online date22 Apr 2017
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jul 2017

Abstract

Geodetic monitoring of infrastructures is one of the key tasks in surveying and engineering geology. Systematic monitoring and assessment of the exterior deformation of embankment dams for safety analysis are often difficult when using classical surveying techniques due to time-consuming surveying procedures and high labour costs. Modern remote sensing techniques play an important role in efficiently assessing deformation: changes in the geometry, position and orientation of dams. In this study, we present the feasibility of effective post-construction deformation monitoring of the Masjed-Soleyman dam in Iran using high-resolution (∼1 m) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery in SpotLight (SL) mode from the X-band TerraSAR-X (TSX) satellite. This dam has been monitored over the last 15 years using classical surveying techniques, which provide horizontal and vertical deformation measurements of the structure. We show that high-resolution X-band SAR data provide a much more detailed identification of dam deformation in the crest and downstream that is not possible to infer from classical surveying techniques with few sparse geodetic monuments. High-resolution TSX data reveal that the dam is currently subject to two different deformation regimes: one is related to the crest and its adjacent area downstream, with a maximum rate of deformation of approximately 13 cm/yr in the radar line-of-sight (LOS). The other is related to the lower part of the downstream, with a maximum LOS velocity of 7 cm/yr. The effect of this centimetre displacement rate has been shown through several damage features on the dam body, including minor to large dislocation cracks on the crest and a significant deformation zone on the downstream slope.

Keywords

    Earthfill dam, InSAR, Satellite radar, SpotLight, TerraSAR-X

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Characterizing post-construction settlement of the Masjed-Soleyman embankment dam, Southwest Iran, using TerraSAR-X SpotLight radar imagery. / Emadali, Lotfollah; Motagh, Mahdi; Haghshenas Haghighi, Mahmud.
In: Engineering Structures, Vol. 143, 15.07.2017, p. 261-273.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Emadali L, Motagh M, Haghshenas Haghighi M. Characterizing post-construction settlement of the Masjed-Soleyman embankment dam, Southwest Iran, using TerraSAR-X SpotLight radar imagery. Engineering Structures. 2017 Jul 15;143:261-273. Epub 2017 Apr 22. doi: 10.1016/j.engstruct.2017.04.009
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AU - Emadali, Lotfollah

AU - Motagh, Mahdi

AU - Haghshenas Haghighi, Mahmud

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