SOCOTEC Monitoring Partners with HR Wallingford to Provide Enhanced Insight into the Behaviour of Dams and Reservoirs Using Prime™ Technology
SOCOTEC Monitoring, the exclusive delivery and installation contractor of PRIME™ has partnered with HR Wallingford, a world-leading hydraulics research organisation, to provide enhanced monitoring data analysis for dam and reservoir asset owners that are using the innovative PRIME™ technology.
Developed by The British Geological Survey (BGS) Tomography Team, PRIME™ enables asset owners to 'see inside' vulnerable earthworks, such as dams, reservoirs and flood defences. Data is delivered to the client via Calyx OMS, SOCOTEC Monitoring’s data visualisation portal, providing automated updates on condition changes and early warnings of asset deterioration. For many asset owners, having data delivered in this way for in-house analysis provides the information they require to make informed asset management decisions. However, at other more challenging sites, the subsurface processes being detected by PRIME™ can be complex. SOCOTEC Monitoring recognised that the clients managing these challenging sites could benefit from the opportunity to access additional data interpretation expertise and consultation services, during and following a monitoring campaign.
As the exclusive supplier of PRIME™, SOCOTEC Monitoring delivers and installs the monitoring system for clients and, in partnership with HR Wallingford – with their many decades of experience of working with water-related assets – can now offer support with data analysis and interpretation, together with recommendations on mitigation and remediation measures if required.
“The PRIME™ system automatically generates resistivity data, which is then delivered to the client via Calyx OMS. In many circumstances, the delivery of data in this way is sufficient for the client to gain valuable insight into the monitored asset and will require no further interpretation. However, as the compositional variations in the subsurface and changes in groundwater saturation being detected by PRIME™ can be complex, we recognised that at some sites clients could benefit from an additional data interpretation, reporting and consultation service. SOCOTEC Monitoring is pleased to have formed a strategic partnership with the world-class hydraulic engineering research and consultancy company, HR Wallingford, to provide this as an option for clients.”
Craig Goff, emerging technologies sector lead and a technical director at HR Wallingford comments: “Given the enormous benefits of PRIME™, we are delighted to be the exclusive consultancy partner for the project. Our expertise allows the SOCOTEC Monitoring team to offer a total service that includes the interpretation and the implications of the results from PRIME™ and, where appropriate, recommendations for suitable intervention measures. This partnership builds on over 70 years of innovative and independent thinking at HR Wallingford, which we have used to help owners design, maintain, operate and investigate issues at infrastructure assets.”
