Prediction of Total Dissolved Gas (TDG) at Hydropower Dams throughout the Columbia
- ORNL
- Bureau of Reclamation
- U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
The network of dams throughout the Columbia River Basin (CRB) are managed for irrigation, hydropower production, flood control, navigation, and fish passage that frequently result in both voluntary and involuntary spillway releases. The entrainment of air in spillway releases and the subsequent exchange of atmospheric gasses into solution during passage through the stilling basin cause elevated levels of total dissolved gas (TDG) saturation. Physical processes that affect TDG exchange at hydropower facilities have been characterized throughout the CRB in site-specific studies and at real-time water quality monitoring stations. These data have been used to develop predictive models of TDG exchange which are site specific and account for the fate of spillway and powerhouse flows in the tailrace channel and resultant transport and exchange in route to the downstream dam. Currently, there exists a need to summarize the findings from operational and structural TDG abatement programs conducted throughout the CRB and for the development of a generalized prediction model that pools data collected at multiple projects with similar structural attributes. A generalized TDG exchange model can be tuned to specific projects and coupled with water regulation models to allow for the formulation of optimal water regulation schedules subject to water quality constraints for TDG supersaturation. It is proposed to develop a methodology for predicting TDG levels downstream of hydropower facilities with similar structural properties as a function of a set of variables that affect TDG exchange; such as tailwater depth, spill discharge and pattern, project head, and entrainment of powerhouse releases.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1050357
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: HydroVision, 2012, Louisville, KY, USA, 20120716, 20120720
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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