Planning Instrumentation Monitoring in Dams

This paper outlines the seismic instrumentation being adopted for river valley projects in India, More than 60% of Indian sub-continent lies in an active seismic belt. Of this the middle and lower Himalayas constitute a major area wherein lies a huge untapped hydro-power potential, Being primarily constituted of younger rock formations, frequented by faults, thursts and shear zones and lying in a high seismic risk zone, observations through instruments play a significant role in perspective planning of projects in this area. Setting up of seismological observatories in advance of construction of dam projects, forms a part of investigative planning to assess the seismic status of the area. The observations are continued after construction to monitor any changes in seismicity due to reservoir impounding. Present approach is to also provide instrumentation and continued observation to a possible prediction of earthquake. A typical case of instrumentation for a dam on active fault is also cited