Research progress on temperature field leakage detection of earth-rock dams and new exploration in leakage point detection

The use of temperature field to detect leakage in earth-rock dams has a low cost and high efficiency, which is crucial to the safety of dams. This paper briefly introduces the principle of temperature field leak detection, reviews the research results of temperature leak detection, and categorises the research on the detection of leakage through the temperature field of earth-rock dam into three levels: 1) technical research based on temperature field detection; 2) study on the theoretical model of temperature detection; 3) research on numerical calculations of multi-field coupling such as temperature field and seepage field. The main achievements and characteristics of various research levels are reviewed, revealing the development trends of the field of temperature field leakage detection in earth-rock dams. Consequently, UAVs mounted with infrared thermal imaging leak detection technology are integrated, and the technical scheme for patrol leak detection is noted. Finally, future research directions for the temperature field detection of earth-rock dam leakage are explored for the timely and accurate detection of the location of leakage channels and to establish an intuitive and effective judgement and identification method for dam leakage.