PUBLICATION NOTICE: Web-Based Monitoring of Piezometers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Moose Creek Dam, North Pole, Alaska

Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.21079/11681/35293

Report Number: ERDC/CRREL TR-19-26

Title: Web-Based Monitoring of Piezometers for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Moose Creek Dam, North Pole, Alaska

By Arthur Gelvin, Christopher Williams, and Stephanie Saari

Approved for Public Release; Distribution is Unlimited December 2019

Abstract: The Moose Creek Dam, completed in 1979, is a 7.5-mile long earthen dam located in North Pole, Alaska designed to protect the Fairbanks and North Pole areas from flooding by regulating flow on the Chena River. The earth-filled embankment and a concrete control structure regulates flow with four gated bays. In 2014, two minor flood events took place within 1 month of each other. Flood observations discovered over 1,000 pin/small sand boils downstream of the stability berm, which could signify the initiation of backward erosion and piping with a vertical exit through the boil. The location of greatest distress was mostly within areas of permafrost, some of which have degraded since the dam’s construction. During operation, groundwater levels are measured manually at more than 150 piezometers. In 2018, the Corps of Engineers Alaska District tasked the Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL) to automate-groundwater levels measurement by installing 21 piezometers. CRREL added instrumentation and monitoring to a network system that aggregates all data. The web-based monitoring system provides a new tool that allows remote Corps personnel to monitor groundwater levels and seepage in areas of significant concern and receive notifications of developing distress during a flooding event.

60 pages / 5.5 Mb

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