Deformation Monitoring Studies at Atatürk Dam

SUMMARY The importance of water and water structures are increasing recently. This situation is more considerable for such countries like Turkey that are located within the middle zone of the world. The dams are one of the most important engineering structures that used for water supply, flood control, agricultural uses, drinking and hydroelectric power. Turkey has approximately 550 large dams. Dams are very large and critical structures and they demand application of precise monitoring surveying at regular intervals. Monitoring is an essential component of the dam after construction and during operation and must enable the timely detection of any behavior that could deteriorate the dam, potentially result in its shutdown or failure. Considering the time and labor consumed by long-term measurements, processing and analysis of measured data, importance of the horizontal and vertical small structural motions at regular intervals could be comprehended. In this study, brief information is given about Ataturk Dam. Moreover, methods of geodetic and non-geodetic monitoring measurements are mentioned. Especially geodetic monitoring methods are emphasized and also some of new measuring techniques are recommended. The study generates several important results. One of them, which have been subject to this paper, is to determine whether, the deformation of the dam embankment is caused by the level of reservoir water or not. OZET