Historical displacement analysis of an earth dam

Issue

Assess past displacements of an earth dam in the period 2003-2010.

Solution

Satellite Advanced Differential SAR Interferometry (A-DInSAR) analyses have been carried out on archive data acquired by European Space Agency (ESA) Envisat satellite. We analysed two separate datasets (with different orbital geometries, ascending and descending) to investigate past displacements occurred over the dam area both in vertical and horizontal directions. More than 120 sq. km have been analysed to detect past displacements over the whole area and specific manual analyses have been performed to investigate in details the dam and other important structures.

Achievements

High-density punctual results (characterized by time series of displacement) allowed us to define deformational trends for structures over the study area. Both long-terms deformational process and cyclical deformations (e.g. thermal-induced) have been detected. Significant stability conditions have been assessed for the investigated period, furthermore confirmed by both ascending and descending independent results.