Conceptualization of an anti-erosion sensing revetment for levee monitoring: experimental tests and numerical modelling
Authors: Bertulessi Manuel , Bianchini Paolo , Boschini Ilaria , Chiarini Andrea , Ferrario Maddalena , Mazzon Nicola , Menduni Giovanni , Morosi Jacopo , Zambrini Federica 
Published: March 2020

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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Smart levees represent a revolution in the field of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;emban&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;kment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;monitoring and&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;safety&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;during flood events. A smart levee&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, intended a&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;s the&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;native (or&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#8220;from scratch&amp;#8221;)&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;integration of&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;an engineering structure with sensors&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and connection systems&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;provides detailed information on its past, current and future conditions&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Viz.&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;integrity&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;stress&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;/strain conditions&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, maintenance state&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;. This&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;give&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;decision support&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;to the figures&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;in charge&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;for maintenance and surveillance of the embankments&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;increasing efficiency and,&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;particularly, the&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;degree of&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;protection&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;from flood events&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;Sensor information can also be&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;mashed up with other information, such as&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;water stage&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, rainfall, soil wetness offering an&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;useful integrated view of the river context&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;W&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;e present&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;here first results&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;of&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;a research project concerning the conceptualization of a&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;sensing&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;anti-erosion revetment for embankments, through the integration of a double-twisted&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;steel&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;wire mesh with an optic fiber cable.&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;The&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;fiber is&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;woven&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;into&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;the double-twisted sections&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;and is capable to&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;detect&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;the&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;nearly continuous&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;deformation of the meshes caused by&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;stresses&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;exerted&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;in&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;it&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;s plane&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;The sensor&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;sensitivity is enough to record&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;deformation due to (small) shear stress&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;es&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;exerted by&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;eventual&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;overtopping&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;flows, t&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;h&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;ough&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;it&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;can&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;bear (and report)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;huge deformations&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;typical of quite higher stresses&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;up to&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;thousands&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;of microstrain.&lt;/span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;
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&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;Several cycles of experiments&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, jointly with numerical modelling,&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;clearly show the feasibility of such a product&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;line&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;, also showing a good linearity of the smart&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;revetment&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;behavior.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
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