Author(s): Cuilin Liao; Li Lu; Tieyou Li; Wanpeng Wang
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Fish friendly turbine; Turbine-passed fish; Survival; Injury; Design
Abstract: The purpose of research and development of fish friendly turbine is to increase the fish passage survival and minimize the penalty on the turbine efficiency. It would provide advanced power equipment to resolve the conflict between hydropower and ecological environment as well as promote the balanced and sustainable development. Studies have been made by foreign countries and some achievements have been obtained. The research and development of fish friendly turbine are summarized overall in this paper from the aspects of biological design criteria, design concepts of fish friendly turbine and the design and evaluation methods of fish friendly turbine. The main research results of fish friendly turbine include ARL/NREC turbine runner, fish-friendly design concepts developed by Voith team, minimum gap runner (MGR), advanced-design turbine for Wanapum dam, fish friendly turbine with fixed blade, the minimum gap guide vane (MGGV), vortex turbine, updraft free-exit-flow hydropower turbine system. Based on the mechanisms of injury to fish and biological design criteria, fish friendly turbine is designed to reduces the injury probability due to the flow (such as pressure, cavitaiton, shear stress and turbulence) as well as due to the mechanical factors (such as abrasion, grinding and strike), and increases the fish passage survival. During the design of fish friendly turbine, numerical methods, STRIKER fish injury prediction model and traditional design tools are used. In order to evaluate the biological performance of an advanced-design turbine, pilot-scale tests and field tests are carried out with live fish, sensor fish or using neutrally buoyant beads instead of turbine-passed fish. At present, most studies and achievements of the fish friendly turbine are supported by the United States, but actually the research in this area should be paid more attention and support by more countries This paper will greatly add to our understanding of the new fish friendly turbine which is a good way to settle the downstream fish passage issue at hydroelectric power plants.
Year: 2013