Art + Tech | Digital Twin empowers hydropower industry, 3d visualization hydroelectricity dam
In today’s challenging energy market hydropower operators face multiple challenges such as increasing price pressure with the rise of intermittent renewable energy, tighter regulations, ageing assets, experienced workforce turnover, new operating patterns, staff retention in remote locations, etc. Fortunately, digital technologies can help turn these challenges into opportunities, putting hydropower at the forefront of the energy transition.
Hightopo developed a powerful web-based 2D and 3D rendering engine which provides rich display effects for data visualization. With this, we provide hydro industry business with a lightweight, cross-platform, responsive, fully interactive digital twin solution. Helping the hydro industry land for a smooth digital transformation, utilizing the powerful 3d rendering engine and detailed and beautiful 3d models, we empower dam operators with an institutive and immersive visualization experience.
Different from the previous digital twin projects in sci-fi style, this dam visualization project adopts the poetic and painting style of ink painting and classical music and presents serious and boring projects through traditional Chinese ink paintings with profound artistic conception.
3D Walkthrough
HT powerful 3d rendering engine easily achieves 360-degree panoramic view. Get the virtual inspection and roam the entire water conservancy equipment from the flying perspective of the crane in the scene.
Safety Monitoring and Instrumentation
Dam Safety Monitoring and Instrumentation is a process of monitoring the condition of a dam to ensure public safety and the ongoing viable service of the dam to the community and industry.
The major areas that require monitoring are,
- leakage, deformation, pore pressure (seepage line) and response to earthquakes.
Instruments that are used for monitoring the following parameters:
- Leakage or seepage losses: V-notch weirs, drainage holes;
- Deformation (concrete): plumb lines and external reference points;
- Deformation (embankment): differential settlement gauges and external reference points;
- Uplift pressure: piezometer
- Earthquake: seismograph
The most important parameter for monitoring is leakage from the foundation rock. Following the initial filling of a newly constructed dam and when the dam level has stabilised at a constant level, then leakage is considered to be stable if the rate of leakage decreases gradually. If the rate of leakage is observed to gradually increase then the cause must be investigated. If the leakage rate increases abruptly, then this must trigger an urgent investigation.
Video Surveillance Integration
HT is a component library based on the HTML5 standard, which can seamlessly integrate various multimedia functions of HTML5 and support the integration of various video resources to form a unified video access platform. It can mark camera objects on a 2D or 3D map and associate its video signal source. The corresponding surveillance video can be retrieved by interacting in the scene.
Interaction on 3D Scene
- Drag the control panel on the left side to control the waterfall speed.
- Click the construction panel on the left side to switch the view to different dam construction.
- Click the dancing swallow to play/pause background music
BIM + GIS Leveraging Digital Twin
At present, most engineering and construction structures, inspection records, the monitoring information can not be associated with the actual spatial location. Only the seasoned veterans can fast and accurately find the related information. However, 3D visualization, BIM technology and GIS, bring great convenience to water conservancy dam management.
- Lightweight BIM
BIM model file is generally large and heavy, it is not conducive to running directly in the browser. HT offers an advanced feature to lightweight the BIM model, enable faster loading on the web.
- Utilizing GIS
GIS provides more information about terrain, buildings, facilities, etc. By superimposing and fusing multi-source data such as oblique photography data, vector data, 3D model data, and BIM data, GIS can organically combine the spatial location of objects in the real world with related attributes, thereby providing technical support for spatial decision-making and realizing visual expression. HT provides GIS integration and other related services to realize the 3D display of dam terrain scene data and further assist the visualization process of water conservancy dam projects.
Web Display / VR Supported
HT 3D visualization is a B/S (Browser / Server mode) structure application. with the lightweight models, users can access the project through any modern browser, from a PC, Pad, or smartphone, it just works seamlessly anywhere and any time and enable remote monitoring and management. Furthermore, HT visualization solution is VR supported, users can access the scene through VR devices, empower the hydro industry to manage and monitoring assets in an immersive way.
Conclusion
Dam safety monitoring and visualization are crucial for the hydro industry. Through the visualization of information, operation and maintenance managers can obtain first-hand information more intuitively and concretely, analyze the operation status of the dam and bedrock, and grasp the working form of the dam. Evaluate the safety status of the dam and provide evidence for finding abnormal signs of the dam.
Hightopo 3D visualization solution empowers the hydro industry to clearly and quickly locate monitoring equipment and facilities, and timely obtain basic monitoring information of relevant measuring points.
With more than 10 years of industry experience, Hightopo has collaborated with more than 1000 clients from various industries. From water conservancy, power, energy and other fields, Hightopo empowers industries for a smooth digital transformation.
