Sediment handling
The objective of this research project is the development and application of cost-effective, innovative, technical solutions to handle sediments at hydro power plants exposed to high sediment yield.
Research projects
Reconstruction and improvements of the tunnel system for upgrading of hydropower plants to peaking or pumped storage plants
In 2017 a cooperation with, among others, researchers in Nepal and India has been established to investigate these issues. It is likely that there will also be increased activity in this area in HydroCen in the coming year.
Design of a Francis turbine that accomodates high sediment concentration
The main objective of this work is to study the effects of sediment erosion in hydro turbines, to see how the flow phenomena is causing the erosion, what the off-design operation of turbine causes and how the eroded profile is aggravating the flow and efficiency again.
Upper Tama Koshi Hydropower Headworks Model Study
This study had two objectives: 1) to test the sustainability of daily peaking reservoir by sediment flushing from weir gates; 2) to test the performance of headworks components such as intake, bed load sluice, trash sluice, and setting basins in respect of hydraulics and sediment
Devighat Intake Model Study
The prime objective is to carry out a physical model test of Trishuli outlet for finding alternatives to abstract design discharge into Devighat conveyance system.
Sediment sampling and analysis
Sediment Sampling and analysis is one of the regular activities of the Hydro Lab. It is important for a hydro power project to carry out sediment study from the formulation phase to operation phase of the project. Hydro Lab has successfully carried out the field sediment sampling followed by lab analyses for over 60 projects.
Upper Seti Physical Model Study
This study had two objectives: 1) to evaluate the capacity of spillway and the energy dissipation downstream of dam; 2) to evaluate the performance of sediment flushing facilities
Jhimruk Hydropower Additional Settling Basins Model
The objective of the study is to provide hydraulically acceptable additional settling basins to mitigate sediment-included erosion of turbine by trapping more sediment.
Sediment Management Knowledge Hub
The International Hydropower Association (IHA), together with the World Bank hosted South Asia Water Initiative (SAWI), launched this Hydropower Sediment Management Knowledge Hub to promote strategies and case studies for effective sediment management.
Bed load management Strobler Weißenbach - Monitoring, modelling, clearance concept
The Strobler-Weißenbach which is located in the Salzburger Kalkvoralpen is a part of the Osterhorngruppe. The main drainage ditch has a length of 11,3 km, a catchment area of 45.53 km2 and discharges at Strobl into the Ischler Arche River.
Christian Doppler Laboratory for Sediment Research and Management
The CD-Laboratory “Sediment Research and Management” aims to establish and preserve the long-term use of reservoir capacities, and a long technical lifespan of various plant components, such as intake channels, pumps and turbines.
Danube II - Integrated River Engineering Project on the Danube to the East of Vienna
The “Integrated River Engineering Project on the Danube to the East of Vienna” aims to stop the ongoing riverbed degradation by implementing river engineering measures within the reach between the hydropower plant Freudenau and the Slovakian border (river-km 1921,0 to river-km 1872,70).
Danube River Research and Management in Slovakia and Austria
The aims are to establish joint research facilities, to enhance knowledge transfer and to develop innovative monitoring and modelling tools in the SK-AT border region. By enhancing knowledge transfer and capacity building between research bodies and universities, the project will lead to an improved cooperation and exchange of expertise between research and innovation actors using newly constructed and upgraded research infrastructures (RI).
Global Study on Sediment Management
The overall project aim is to improve the practitioners’ understanding of problems related to sedimentation and to support effective and sustainable sediment management in storage reservoirs and Run-of-River hydropower plants, in cooperation with the existing activities of international organizations.
goMURra (Cross-border management plan for innovative and sustainable management of the border Mura and for improvement of flood risk management)
The interruption of the sediment continuum and the channelisation of the river led to a strong morphological impairment and to a deepening of the river bed in the section of the Mur at the state border between Austria and Slovenia (border Mura), which resulted in ecological and technical problems.
Hydropower induced supersaturation in freshwaters: effects on ecosystems, mitigation and solutions
Hydropower (HP) is the main source of energy supply in Norway and is predicted to increase by 73 % worldwide in the next 10-20 years, including 3700 new major dams. SUPERSAT will provide new crucial knowledge and quantification of supersaturation processes, identified as a major potential effect of HP on river ecosystems. Hence, the project will deliver the basis for mitigation and improved solutions supporting a more sustainable and environment-friendly development of the HP industry.
Monitoring of a novel residual-flow turbine at the hydropower plant Gangljodl
Monitoring of a residual-flow turbine prototype which has been developed by the company Staudt. The novel residual-flow turbine was installed at the small hydropower plant Gangljodl (Alm River in Upper Austria) and will be monitored over 36 months together with TB Gumpinger concerning efficiency (e.g. targeted improvement on sediment continuum).
Reducing the flood risk through floodplain restoration along the Danube River and tributaries
The first Danube Flood Risk Management Plan, as well as the legal bases of the European Water Framework Directive, the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive and the Birds Directive lead to the introduction of a Danube-wide integrative flood risk management, with a special view on the flood disasters of the recent decades.
Sediment management concept Gail
The Gail river its tributary rivers are strong bedload-carrying rivers, therefore a bedload retention place was installed 1907
Sediment Research and Management at the Danube River II
Sediments and sediment management play a fundamental role in the management of rivers and their quality. The Upper (Austria) and Middle Danube (Hungary) are facing sediment related problems (e.g. river bed erosion) impacting the ecological condition, flood risk management, navigation and hydropower. Since water and sediments don’t regard borders, a cross border cooperation is needed in the area of field monitoring, numerical and physical modelling and practical river engineering measures.
Significance of sediment transport for flood protection and navigation at the Austrian Danube
In order to make better use of rivers and the adjacent areas and to better protect them against floods, these were gradually regulated for flood protection, but also for navigation and hydropower purposes. As a consequence, the sediment regime was altered and continuum interruptions such as weirs and dams of hydropower plants often lead to an unbalanced sediment regime.
Suspended sediment program at Austrian rivers
In Austria, a combination of direct and indirect measurement methods is used to determine the temporal and spatial variability of suspended sediments in rivers and streams. In addition to the continuous detection of turbidity by optical probes and calibration by means of probe-near samples, it is also necessary to determine the distribution of suspended sediments in the cross-sections of the rivers at the monitoring sites by using ADCP measurements and/or multi-point sampling
The Role of Sediments and Hydropower in River Basin Management – a Contribution to the UNESCO IHP World´s Large Rivers Initiative RiBaM – WLRI
The transport of sediments is a natural process in river systems. However, human activities have led to significant changes of natural sediment loads in rivers and their tributaries over the past decades. These changes negatively influence important water management issues such as flood risk, inland navigation, ecology and hydropower generation.
PiCASSO - Particle Collisions for Arbitrary Smooth Shaped Objects - Experimental and numerical investigation: Model development and validation
Many rivers worldwide suffer from disturbed sediment dynamics due to human and climate impacts. Understanding sediment processes in rivers is a prerequisite for developing efficient sediment management strategies.
Swarm - Strengthening of master curricula in water resources management for the Wester Balkan HEIs and stakeholders
The overall broader aim of the project “swarm” is the education of experts for water resources management in the Western Balkans (WB) in line with the national and EU policies.
HyMoCARES - HydroMorphological assessment and management at basin scale for the Conservation of Alpine Rivers and related Ecosystem Services
River corridors represent one of the most used and modified landscape elements in the Alps. They provide key ecosystem services, but currently many of them are at risk or significantly degraded. The project will develop a conceptual framework, and operational tools, comprising novel methods, to integrate ecosystem services in Alpine river basin planning and management, with a special focus on factors affecting river hydromorphology – including sediment continuity – while ensuring integration of local and basin scales.
FITHydro – mitigation measures for hydropower
FIThydro addresses the decision support in commissioning and operating hydropower plants (HPP) by use of existing and innovative technologies. It concentrates on mitigation measures and strategies to develop cost-efficient environmental solutions and on strategies to avoid individual fish damage and enhancing population developments. Therefore HPPs all over Europe are involved as test sites.