Author(s): S. Clark; J. C. Doering
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The formation of active frazil ice is a phenomenon experienced by many northern rivers that can present several problems. In particular, the blockage of trash racks at hydroelectric generating stations can significantly restrict power production causing significant economic loss. This type of situation will continue to occur until a better predictive model or management strategy is developed. Despite the magnitude of the negative effects of frazil ice formation, it is still relatively poorly understood. High quality field and laboratory studies of frazil are quite rare, yet these studies are necessary to achieve a fundamental understanding of the processes involved. This improved understanding should help mitigate the aforementioned problems and aid in the management and operation of hydraulic structures. Frazil ice size distributions from a series of experiments have been obtained and analyzed. The evolution of these distributions is shown for four experiments with various air temperatures. In addition, the temperature data for the experiments has been given, and several diameter to thickness ratios have been measured. These results are intended to enhance the work performed by Daly and Colbeck (1986), and should be beneficial for numerical models used to simulate frazil ice formation.
Year: 2004