Role of Instrumentation in a Dam Safety Program

Pierre has been involved in the field of Geotechnical Instrumentation and Monitoring for most of his career. He joined RST Instruments in 2007. Pierre graduated in Geological Engineering (Engineering Geology) from Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal and subsequently obtained a doctorate degree in Rock Mechanics from Ecole des Mines de Paris in France. From 1982 to 1993 he was a faculty member at the department of Mining and Metallurgy of Laval University in Quebec City where his specialty was rock mechanics, ground control, and applied geology. Pierre is a member of the ICOLD Technical Committee on Dam Surveillance and is also the Editor of the Instrumentation and Monitoring column of the Canadian Geotechnique magazine.

Brandon Lanthier is a Project Engineer with the SF Bay Area Branch of Geosyntec Consultants, Inc. He has 8 years of professional civil engineering experience with 5 years focused on dam safety. Brandon's experience includes geotechnical analysis and design, instrumentation data collection and analysis, construction management and quality assurance, and dam safety review and analysis. He has also served as recorder on several FERC Part 12D PFMA workshops and is currently working closely with the California Department of Water Resources. Brandon earned B.S. and M.S. Degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering at UCLA. Brandon is a registered Geotechnical and Professional Engineer in California.

Dr. Georgette Hlepas is the National Geotechnical Policy Advisor for the US Army Corps of Engineers and is located in the Headquarters office in DC.  She is also the lead for the USACE Instrumentation and Performance Monitoring Community of Practice and the Chairperson for the USSD Monitoring of Dams and Their Foundations Committee.  She has ~13 years of experience in geotechnical engineering and instrumentation with USACE and has been an instructor of several instrumentation courses.  She has a PhD in Civil and Materials Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and is a licensed Professional Engineer in Illinois.

Bill has over 10 years’ experience specializing in dam and levee safety that includes; instrumentation and monitoring systems, dam safety modifications, and risk assessments. Key projects include the Wolf Creek and Center Hill ADAS and barrier wall installations; the Mosul Dam ADAS and emergency grouting; and contributing author of the USACE Dam Safety and Instrumentation Policy. He has both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Geological Engineering from Ole Miss and is a Professional Geologist.

Will Brown is a Branch Chief for FERC’s Division of Dam Safety and Inspections Atlanta Regional Office. Will’s team annually reviews instrumentation and monitoring reports for over sixty high hazard dams.  Prior to joining the Commission in 2010, Will worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service completing inspections, design and analyses of dams in Georgia.  Will also served on active duty as an engineer in the U.S. Army for nine and a half years completing construction and design projects in the U.S., Haiti, Nicaragua, Germany, Kuwait, and Iraq.  Will has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and Engineering Management from the University of Missouri-Rolla.  Will is a registered Professional Engineer in Georgia and Missouri.

Alexandre Simon graduated in 1999 in Engineering from the School of Physics and Engineering in Grenoble, France. In 2000, he joined the EDF Company (Electricité De France) and gained experience in safety analysis for nuclear power plants. He worked for 8 years on major safety issues such as ten-year reviews and risk of external events. He also presented EDF’s positions to the Nuclear Safety Authority. In 2008, he moved to deal with dam surveillance. He was involved in the development and maintenance of various sensors (pendulums, vibrating wire extensometers and piezometers…). His activities have also focused on the interpretation of dam monitoring data. For that purpose, he was the industrial supervisor of two PhD students. 

His current position is Dam Surveillance Expert and he deals with complex behaviors and instrumentation of dams. He is a member of the French Committee of Large Dams and a coopted member of the ICOLD Technical Committee on Dam Surveillance.

John Hynes has 11 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, largely on dam and hydropower projects.  John's experience includes geotechnical analysis and design, instrumentation data collection and analysis, and construction monitoring of heavy civil projects involving hydroelectric powerplants, earth and rockfill embankments, foundation improvements, rock blasting, and excavations. John grew up in Chicago, IL and attended the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in Civil Engineering.  After receiving his master's degree in 2008, John began working at Stantec (then MWH) in their Chicago office.

Lesli Harmon is a Dam Safety Engineer with Southern Company Generation. She has three years of experience in dam safety including dam safety inspections, surveillance, instrumentation data interpretation and reporting, and FERC compliance. Lesli earned a B.S. Degree in Civil Engineering at Auburn University and is a registered Engineer Intern in Alabama.

Ali Ebrahimi is principal engineer with Geosyntec Consultants and has more than 15 years of experience in geotechnical engineering, geotechnical instrumentation, and automated data acquisition systems. His specialty is on the design, installation, and data management of the geotechnical and structural monitoring projects.  He has more than 10 years of experience on design, installation, integration, and maintenance of geotechnical instrumentation, and automated data acquisition system for several infrastructures including high risk dams in USA.  

Scott Anderson is a Principal Geotechnical Engineer for BGC Engineering in Golden, Colorado, and a frequent speaker on new technology.  Scott was previously a national leader for the Federal Highway Administration, a Senior Consulting Engineer and Practice Leader for part of what is now AECOM, and a Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Hawaii.  He has seen our work from all sides, which leads to his interest in advances to practice, and especially risk management through new technology and better communication. Scott has authored over well over 100 publications and has made more presentations than he keeps track of – he recently was interviewed by the ASCE Geo-Institute for the inaugural GeoStrata Extra and can be found on YouTube.  He is a member of the National Academies’ Committee on Geological and Geotechnical Engineering, a Steering Committee member of the Geotechnical Extreme Events Association of the National Science Foundation and longstanding co-chair of the Transportation Research Board Subcommittee on Geotechnical Asset Management, as well as being active with many professional committees and organizations.

Raphael Victor has been working in the Instrumentation and Monitoring industry for 15 years on various international infrastructure projects mostly in Europe and in the US in cities such as Paris, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Seattle, New York and Washington DC.

Through his journey implementing and managing monitoring programs on complex projects, he has gathered valuable experience to be shared with the civil engineering community.

Raphael is currently working as Business Development Manager at Sixense, an instrumentation and monitoring consultant providing high quality data on the structural and geotechnical condition of assets. Through his role, Raphael is assisting clients in North America on Infrastructure, Construction, Mining and Rail sectors.

Raphael earned is M.S. degree in civil and geotechnical engineering at ENSG Nancy (France).