Testing Concrete or Earthen Dams & Dikes

Inspections of concrete and earthen dams, dikes and spillways often require testing to evaluate for leakage paths, soil settlement/voiding, or weakened deteriorated concrete. NDT uses electrical geophysical testing methods (Ground Penetrating Radar -- GPR, electrical resistivity or EM) to identify potential leakage paths under earthen dams, dikes and concrete spillways. Tracer can be used to determine leakage paths and rates. Sonic/ultrasonic impact echo and GPR nondestructive testing methods are used to identify voided areas under spillways. Sonic/ultrasonic pulse velocity and impact-echo measurements are also used to determine the condition and integrity of dam and spillway concrete. Many dams and spillways have a shotcrete coating that hides internal deteriorated weakened concrete from view. In these cases NDT can use sonic/ultrasonic tomographic data to contour the interior of the structure to locate internal weakness.