| The total number of dams that have been constructed and projected for construction since 1900 in Japan is approximately 2,500. Among these, as of the year 2020, nearly 1,500 dams will reach or surpass the age of 50 years, accounting for 58% of the total. Because the number of dams that have behaved stable over an extended period since completion is increasing, the exterior deformation measurement of embankment dams for the safety management often runs into difficulties due to time-consuming surveying procedures and high labor costs. Moreover, during an emergency such as an earthquake, it is difficult to secure adequate surveyors in a disaster area to carry out temporary inspections, and taking measurements of exterior deformation in such a state of disaster presents a potential safety risk for workers. For these reasons, there is a demand for a means of conducting a rapid and safe measurement of the exterior deformation of embankment dams.In this study, on the basis of data collected by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) that has been adapted to carry out disaster assessments, a basic examination was carried out regarding the applicability of SAR to the exterior deformation measurement of embankment dams. Presented in this paper are, not only the results of the examination, but also a brief outline of the principal concept of SAR, since the SAR-based approach is a new technique in the field of dam surveying. |
