APLICAÇÃO INTEGRADA DE MÉTODOS MULTIFÍSICOS NO MONITORAMENTO DE BARRAGENS DE CONTENÇÃO

Abstract

INTEGRATED APPLICATION OF MULTIPHYSICAL METHODS IN MONITORING CONTAINMENT DAMS Abstract The project aims the adaptation of electrical and electromagnetic geophysical methods for the purpose of monitoring containment landfill dams. This work is justified by the high number of incidents involving the breaking of tailing and rockfill dams in the last decade. We propose the combined use of the electric resistivity tomography (ERT), induced polarization (IP) and ground penetrating radar (GPR) methods as indirect, non-invasive, mechanisms to verify the structural and hydrodynamic stability conditions of the dike and dam foundation. This approach is complementar to the traditional instrumentation, which involves the use of piezometers, level and displacement measurers, as well as visual inspections. The test area, in which the geophysical survey was carried out, is located in the Rio de Janeiro state (RJ), Brazil. The reservoir in this case is intended for water containment for industrial purposes. As discussed ahead, the data processing and interpretations proved to be efficient for the proposed purpose and, therefore, the methodology can be applied to earth dams for any type of reservoir, being of greater interest, ore tailing dams.