Geotechnical investigation and field performance of a zoned earth dam in Italy

The Farneto del Principe dam in southern Italy is a critical infrastructure, equipped with a complete monitoring system. Over the years, the effectiveness of this system has been drastically reduced, mainly due to a consistent number of malfunctioned piezometers. A substantial geotechnical investigation campaign was performed in 2015, and new piezometers installed. They are beneficial for supplementing monitoring data and enhance the reliability of the old monitoring system. This paper describes the results from standard geotechnical laboratory and chemical-physical tests, as well as first measurements from the new piezometers. The first insights from these investigations are: (1) the hydraulic conductivity in the core did not increase over time, (2) the seepage flow discharge is relatively low, and (3) the water analyzed does not show critical chemical-physical changes. Combining this information, it is possible to anticipate that the first results of the 2015 campaign show a good static behavior of the dam and exclude possible water tightness problems.