What happens downstream of a dam during a flush? Insight through laboratory experiments
(2024) River Flow 2024 — Location: Liverpool (2024.September.2AD)
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- Authors
Meurice, Robin 
- Abstract
- Dam flushing is often seen as a convenient way to cope with reservoir sedimentation. Yet, dam flushes may severely impact the downstream reach, which has received less attention from the scientific community than its upstream counterpart, especially in the experimental field. We conducted idealised flushing experiments with varying initial deposit depths to enhance understanding of the downstream hydromorphodynamics of dam flushes. Monitoring water and bed levels, alongside concentrations, revealed distinctions between pressure and drawdown hydromorphodynamics, emphasising the influence of the upstream deposit's depth. Moreover, we propose a non-intrusive and innovative image processing approach to calibrate the explicit inversion method employed in the acoustic backscattering framework to derive concentration profiles. Although further work is required to quantify method uncertainties, our results offer a qualitative narrative of controlled dam flushes, shedding light on the downstream dynamics.
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Citations
Meurice, R., Bosseler, B., Noël, G., & Soares Frazao, S. (2024). What happens downstream of a dam during a flush? Insight through laboratory experiments. River Flow 2024, Liverpool. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/233063