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Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

Technical Manual: Conduits through Embankment Dams (FEMA 484)

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Chapter 10—Evaluation by Geophysical and Nondestructive TestingFigure 141.—Collecting self potential (SP) data on the crest of anembankment dam in Virginia to trace the source of observed seepage. The75-ft high embankment dam had a sinkhole, a sand boil, and severalseepage points on the downstream face. This information was used incomplement with electrical resistivity imaging data. Photo courtesySchnabel Engineering.for a user input distribution of permeability and electrical resistivity parameters(Sheffer, 2002).Self potential measurements are affected by soil moisture, resistivity, temperature,and other in situ parameters. Therefore, the SP technique should be combined withother methods, such as resistivity or temperature measurement.10.3 Electrical resistivityElectrical resistivity technology is relatively well developed and can be a veryeffective tool for locating large buried metal targets, and other highly electricallyresistive or highly conductive targets (Ward, 1990) . The technique, involving anarray of electrodes that measure the distribution of voltage applied to the ground,has been used to investigate some embankment dams. However, small changes inmeasured data can result in very different interpretations. Resistivity interpretationsare nonunique, and should be constrained by independent data. Other fieldparameters (permeability, dissolved minerals, temperature) may need to be measuredat the same time. The method is sensitive to interference from nearby metal objects(such as pipes and wires within the embankment dam, or overhead wires and fences).251

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