The sensors in the IJkdijk, which warn of an imminent dike breach, will shortly be placed in a Chinese dike as a trial. The dike is situated along the Huang He, also known as the Yellow River. This river is three thousand kilometres long and is dry for most of the year, but can become extremely tumultuous during the rainy season, which means that it needs to be monitered. This is where the Groningen invention comes in.

Monitoring is made possible with the sensor technology of the field lab IJkdijk. The field lab is located in Bellingwolde, Groningen. It is a small polder in which test dikes have been built and which can be collapsed in a controlled process. The technology is already being used at a number of locations in Groningen, and interest is being shown by the rest of the country. Sensor technology is one of the government’s spearhead policies.

The IJkdijk was followed up by a real dike, the Livedijk at Eemshaven. The Livedijk is the template for a subsequent phase in which various sensor types are given an increasingly significant role in the monitoring of dikes along coasts and rivers. Approval was recently given for a research project in which follow-up projects worth 12 million euros will be carried out in the Netherlands. The Dutch business sector is involved in many ways, such as via AGT. AGT operates in China, where it is involved in the protection of the Huang He dikes. It is planning to use the IJkdijk sensor technology for this purpose, initially in the form of a trial.

The trial commissioned by the Yellow River Conservancy Commission (YRCC) is intended to yield information about the effects of high water, the collapse mechanism caused by dike erosion and other risks.


Source: Sensoruniverse.com, April 6, 2012