Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP): Instrumentation & Monitoring of Dams
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) is one of the most important initiatives that is taken up by the Government of India. The purpose behind this project is to strengthen the capabilities and improve the health of existing Indian dams.
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project was launched by Central Water Commission (CWC) backed with World Bank as its financial aider. In 2020, the DRIP project launched its II and III phases. Currently, more than 225 dams projects in India are connected with this project.
DRIP Project Overview
CWC (Central Water Commission) proposed to install geotechnical, geodetic, hydro-meteorological, and seismic instruments in old dams under the DRIP program, as instrumentation plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of dams.
The objective of optimum dam instrumentation is to select the most sensitive parameters that will change significantly before any failure and monitor the behaviour of dams in these parameters precisely, to develop the rehabilitation measures or to plan the effective risk management strategy. The instrumentation was mainly required for the dam body and that for the reservoir and catchment area.
It was decided to automate the whole process of data collection, data processing, and its analysis, presentation, and interpretation. This would help in taking appropriate and corrective action timely and prevent any failure/damage to the structure and its neighbourhood.
Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP) has several States under its umbrella. This includes Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, and many more. The total number of states tallies up to 19 and this DRIP project is one of the most extensive programme that has ever been taken up by the country.
Established in 1966, with over 55 years of experience, Encardio-Rite has solidified its place among the top world leaders. With their reliable and accurate technology, Enacardio-Rite provides world-class geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring services, which proved to be very crucial and played an important role in the DRIP projects.
Encardio-Rite has so far won the contracts for real time monitoring of 58 dams in India under different projects such as:
- Idukki HEP DRIP Project — Real time structural health monitoring & early warning system
- Kerala Irrigation DRIP Project — Real time structural health monitoring of 16 dams
- TNWRD Pollachi DRIP Project — Real time structural health monitoring of 17 dams
- TANGEDCO I and II DRIP Project — Real time structural health monitoring of 24 dams
Keeping both, their integrity and precisely-engineered technology in mind, Encardio-Rite was entrusted with restoring the nation’s pride.
Idduki Dam Project
Being the highest arc dam in the whole of Asia, the Idukki dam holds a special place in both, Encardio-Rite’s catalog and the DRIP project. Located across the Periyar River, Idukki is a concrete, double curvature parabolic dam that stands 168.91m tall. The dam is owned by the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), and along with two other major dams projects in India, Cheruthoni, and Kulamanu, they harness the largest river, Periyar, in Kerala.
Being under the initiative of the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, Encardio-Rite was assigned to monitor the Idukki Dam. Solutions Offered
With our incredible foresight and trusted services, Encardio-Rite won the contract for Real-Time Early Warning Structure Health Monitoring & Data Interpretation (RESHMI) for Idukki HEP. Encardio-Rite successfully carried out the supply and installation works of geotechnical, geodetic, hydro-meteorological sensors, dataloggers, and robotic total stations. Real time monitoring was done with our in-house data management software Drishti, which provided data 24×7 at the client’s fingertips, along with instant alerts for preset …[Continue reading]
