The Brooks Aqueduct Building Information Model (BIM)

Welcome to the Brooks Aqueduct Cloud Database/Building Information Model.

This BIM works in tandem with a Mobile App and is used for documenting damage and repair work (past and present) at the Brooks Aqueduct National and Provincial Historic Site.

Location and Background

The Brooks Aqueduct is located near the town of Brooks, Alberta, and was constructed over 100 years ago to irrigate large areas of parched prairie for farming. The aqueduct formed part of a large-scale irrigation system which included the Bessano Dam, Lake Newell, as well as hundreds of kilometers of canals.

Construction on the aqueduct began in 1912 and took two years to complete. The aqueduct was a technological marvel in its day. It consisted of a 3.2 km long concrete flume suspended above the prairie floor on concrete trestles. Among the more unusual features of the aqueduct is a unique siphon system designed to carry water underneath nearby Canadian Pacific Railway tracks that would otherwise bisect the flume. Over 25,000 cubic yards of concrete were used to construct the aqueduct, along with two thousand tonnes of steel.

The use of reinforced concrete was still in its infancy when the aqueduct was constructed. Although it functioned until the late 1960's, a serious of design flaws and weaknesses in the reinforced concrete have required constant monitoring and repair during the aqueducts operating life.

The Brooks Aqueduct exists as a hallmark in Canadian civil engineering. It was formally recognized as a heritage site of significance in 2000 and is now a National Historic Site of Canada. However, the material weaknesses and design issues that plagued the aqueduct while in use continue to impact it today.

The Need for a Long-Term Monitoring Strategy

In 2017, Alberta Culture and Tourism partnered with the University of Calgary to digitally capture the aqueduct using terrestrial lidar and airborne photogrammetry. These datasets were then used to create a monitoring program and building information model (BIM).

The building information model consists of a Cloud Database and Mobile App. The Cloud Database contains all the structural elements comprising the Brooks Aqueduct. A lidar point cloud of the aqueduct has been used to spatially reference the Mobile App to the aqueduct. By clicking "Get Location", any damage recorded by an operator on the aqueduct will be accurately georeferenced to its corresponding location on the structure.

Using the App, the operator can categorize any damage identified during site visits. Photographs and video can be taken to illustrate potential issues and are also spatially referenced to the aqueduct. Upon returning to the office, the operator then transfers (syncs) this field data to the Cloud Database.

The Brooks Aqueduct BIM offers a means of systematically recording damage and repair work, both past and present. The database can also be queried which makes it a powerful analytical tool for examining spatial and temporal trends in specific types damage, and evaluating past interventions.

For more information about the Brooks Aqueduct BIM please contact Dr. Peter Dawson, Department of Anthropology and Archaeology (pcdawson@ucalgary.ca).

Funding for this project has been provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and Parks Canada's National Historic Sites Cost-Sharing Program.