An experimental study: Fiber Bragg grating–hydrothermal cycling integration system for seepage monitoring of rockfill dams

In order to make up defects liable for the conventional monitoring of rockfill dam seepage in spatial inconsequence and low efficiency, a new monitoring system is proposed based on the heating technique incorporated in the temperature tracer method, that is, the integrated system of fiber Bragg grating temperature sensing and hydrothermal cycling. The system has a boiler as its heating device, and heated water from boiler is admitted through redistributor and circular warm pipelines, in which fiber Bragg grating sensors are embedded in advance for measuring the water temperature, thereby the seepage behavior is identified from the correlative fields of temperature and seepage. A coefficient ζ_v, according to Newton’s law of cooling, is then fitted out by pipeline cooling curves and used as a new way to identify the seepage state. The temperature–time–travel curves for the cooling period have proved by calibration tests to be, in general, consistent with the mathematical model of temperature variations under Newton’s law of cooling, thereby to inverting the seepage velocity through the fitting formula of it with ζ_v. With the test model of concentrative leakage established in regard to the location, amount of leakage passages, and leakage rate, multi-condition tests have been conducted which conclude that the proposed method is capable of positioning leakage and quantifying seepage velocity; therefore, it is valid for seepage monitoring and identification.