Computational studies of hydraulic stressors for biological performance assessment in a hydropower plant with Kaplan turbine
- Battelle Pacific Northwest Labs., Richland, WA (United States)
- Andritz HYDRO GmbH, Linz (Austria)
We report Hydropower is currently one of the preeminent sources of renewable energy in the United States and globally. Hydropower plants also have detrimental impacts on the environment and ecology, including direct impacts to anadromous fish populations. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) – based Biological Performance Assessment (BioPA) toolset is used for biological evaluations of fish passage through hydropower plants. The hydraulic environment of a hydropower plant was evaluated using CFD coupled with discrete element method (DEM) simulations. The predicted flow field and particle collision rate were validated against the experimental data in a water flume that has an idealized hydroturbine distributor geometry. Flow simulations were conducted to evaluate the hydraulic stressors, such as nadir pressure, fluid shear, runner collision, in a physical scale in a hydropower plant with Kaplan turbine which are responsible for injury and mortality of fish in a downstream migration. The cumulative exposure probability for the nadir pressure and collision with turbine runner was found to decrease with increased discharge rate. The lowest discharge rate shows the higher value of cumulative shear exposure probability. The maximum value of collision velocity increases with increased discharge rate. We offer the conclusions that will help in understanding various hydraulic stressors for biological assessment for environmentally sustainable hydroturbine passage.
- Research Organization:
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Water Power Technologies Office
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-76RL01830
- OSTI ID:
- 1891009
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1961444
- Report Number(s):
- PNNL-SA-171700
- Journal Information:
- Renewable Energy, Vol. 199; ISSN 0960-1481
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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