Multi-Species Assessment of Injury, Mortality, and Physical Conditions during Downstream Passage through a Large Archimedes Hydrodynamic Screw (Albert Canal, Belgium)

Ine S. Pauwels, Raf Baeyens, Gert Toming, Matthias Schneider, David Buysse, Johan Coeck and Jeffrey A. Tuhtan
Additional contact information
Ine S. Pauwels: Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Team Aquatic Management, Havenlaan 88/bus 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Raf Baeyens: Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Team Aquatic Management, Havenlaan 88/bus 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Gert Toming: Centre for Biorobotics, Department of Computer Systems, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia
Matthias Schneider: SJE Ecohydraulic Engineering GmbH, Viereichenweg 12, D-70569 Stuttgart (Vaihingen), Germany
David Buysse: Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Team Aquatic Management, Havenlaan 88/bus 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Johan Coeck: Research Institute for Nature and Forest, Team Aquatic Management, Havenlaan 88/bus 73, 1000 Brussels, Belgium
Jeffrey A. Tuhtan: Centre for Biorobotics, Department of Computer Systems, Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-25

Abstract: Fish passing downstream through hydraulic structures and turbines may be exposed to an elevated risk of injury and mortality. The majority of live fish studies are single-species laboratory investigations and field studies of Kaplan turbines, with a limited number of studies in Francis and screw turbines. In addition to these studies, the physical conditions during turbine passage can be directly measured using passive sensors. In this study, we investigate the multispecies risk of injury and mortality during downstream passage through a large Archimedes hydrodynamic screw for bream ( Abramis brama ), eel ( Anguilla anguilla ), and roach ( Rutilus rutilus ) in conjunction with passive sensors that record the pressure, acceleration, and rate of rotation. This work proposes several new metrics to assess downstream passage including the times and durations of impact events, the kinetic energies of translation and rotation, and the pressure gradient. The major findings of this work are three-fold: (1) Significant differences in injury and mortality were observed between the three investigated species with 37% mortality for bream, 19% for roach, and 3% for eel on average. (2) The operational scenario was found to be significant only for a limited number of species-specific injuries and mortality rates. (3) In contrast to studies in Kaplan turbines, the sensor data revealed highly chaotic physical conditions in the Archimedes hydrodynamic screw, showing little difference in the physical metrics between operational scenarios.

Keywords: Archimedes screw; turbine passage; fish injury and mortality; barotrauma detection system (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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