Conversion of Vertical Slot Fishways to Deep Slot Fishways to Maintain Operation during Low Flows: Implications for Hydrodynamics

Luís Pena, Jerónimo Puertas, María Bermúdez, Luis Cea and Enrique Peña
Additional contact information
Luís Pena: Water and Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Jerónimo Puertas: Water and Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
María Bermúdez: Water and Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Luis Cea: Water and Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain
Enrique Peña: Water and Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering, University of A Coruña, 15071 A Coruña, Spain

Sustainability, 2018, vol. 10, issue 7, 1-16

Abstract: Deep slot fishways (DSF) are similar to vertical slot fishways (VSF) except that a sill has been placed at the base of the slot, and thus require a lower discharge to operate. The conversion of a VSF to a DSF, which requires minimal design modifications, can make for a more flexible design in inflow management, maintaining the correct operation of the fishway in periods of limited water availability. It is, however, crucial to understand the new flow conditions that will be created inside the fishway, and their implications for fish passage. In this paper, the hydrodynamics of DSF were studied for two different pool configurations and five sill heights. The investigation comprised the analysis of the water surface configuration, the velocity and turbulence fields, as well as the definition of the equations that related discharges to depths in the pools. The DSF designs compared well in terms of water surface patterns and maximum velocities with VSFs, but resulted in a more complex three-dimensional flow pattern and increased turbulence levels. Further testing with fish is needed to analyze whether the benefits of retrofitting a VSF by adding a sill during low flows are cancelled out by increased fish passage difficulty.

Keywords: fishway; upstream passage; hydraulic models; flow patterns; velocity distribution; turbulent flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2406/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/7/2406/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:7:p:2406-:d:157220

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().