Aging reservoirs cause concern. What can scientific instruments do?

The report mentioned that a large part of the reservoirs currently in use around the world were built in the 20th century (between 1930 and 1970), while at the same time most of the population Living downstream of these tens of thousands of large reservoirs. That is to say, once safety accidents occur in these reservoirs, people living downstream of the reservoirs may be harmed.

The average lifespan of reservoirs built in the 20th century is generally between 50 and 100 years. In other words, many reservoirs are currently facing the problem of aging. Moreover, this problem is not a simple guess. According to relevant statistics, between 1950 and 2004, the cumulative number of damaged reservoirs every five years never exceeded 20, but between 2015 and 2019, the cumulative number of damaged reservoirs The number is close to 175 cases. In other words, even if exquisite design, careful construction and year-round maintenance keep most reservoirs in good condition, for those "old" reservoirs, aging prevention and repair work cannot be sloppy.

When it comes to the maintenance and repair of reservoirs, the participation of instruments and equipment is naturally indispensable. In fact, the maintenance and repair process is not difficult for those obvious signs of aging or damage. What is difficult is the damage that is hidden inside the facility and cannot be observed by the naked eye, such as cracks, holes, collapses inside the reservoir wall, or It’s the wear and tear and gaps at the connections between facilities. Therefore, a very important part of the maintenance and repair work is to confirm whether these problems exist and "prescribe the right medicine" according to the different problems.

So how to detect those invisible details? The inspection work of reservoirs is different from the inspection work of traditional buildings. It needs to ensure that it does not affect the normal operation of the settings and cannot cause large-scale damage to the facilities. Therefore, non-destructive testing has naturally become a good choice. There are actually many non-destructive testing technologies that can be used in reservoir inspections. For example, ground-penetrating radar can be used to identify cracks, holes, and collapses inside the reservoir wall, while X-rays can be used to detect wear and gaps at the connections of some facilities. flaw detection.

For the actual treatment situation of the reservoir, judgment needs to be made based on the results. For those reservoirs that are determined to be seriously aged and damaged, relevant preliminary preparations need to be made in advance.Then make further plans for the reconstruction of the reservoir and dismantle the original reservoir. This process not only involves the analysis of the surrounding environment, but also involves the investigation of the topography. Measuring instruments and flow meters are commonly used instruments and equipment. . For those reservoirs that do not need to be demolished and rebuilt, they need to be repaired and maintained based on the known damage. Whether it is demolition, reconstruction or repair, it will involve the selection of materials and the estimation of service life. This process will also involve many scientific instruments, such as testing machines for material testingproducts.

Although, judging from the current situation, the aging of reservoirs, especially large reservoirs, is a project involving water engineering safety, but considering that the relevant departments have always been concerned about this aspect, We attach great importance to it, and relevant supervision and inspections have never stopped. With the development of equipment and materials science, it is only a matter of time before safety hazards are eliminated.

　(Original title: Reservoir aging problem causes concern, what scientific instruments can do)