Reservoir Sedimentation

Slide #1
 Physical Processes in Watershed
 Weathering of rocks – chemical and physical process by which rocks
break down into smaller particles.

 Erosion – detachment and transport of weathered material from one

location to another.

 Landscape and fluvial transport systems can be divided into zones of

erosion or zones of deposition, though both processes occur
simultaneously in almost all environments.

 Sediment Yield is the amount of eroded sediment discharged by a

stream at any given point; it is the total amount of fluvial sediment
exported by the watershed tributary to a measurement point and is
the parameter of primary concern in reservoir studies.

Slide #2
 Estimating Sediment Yield of a
Watershed
1. Measure the sediment that is being transported in
the river at the point of interest.
2. Use sediment transport models and sampling data
3. Estimate the erosion in the watershed (e.g. the
universal soil loss equation) and then estimate the
sediment-delivery ratio.
4. Empirical formulas for Sediment yield vs drainage
area and sediment yield vs. mean annual runoff
Slide #3
Slide #4
Dynamic Adjustment of River
System – Lane’s Relationship

Where
Qs is Sediment discharge
Q is water discharge
d is sediment particle diameter
S is the slope of the channel

Slide #5
Slide #6
 3 Forms of Sediment Transport
in Rivers
1. Bed Load – Material that moves
along the bottom of the channel
(by saltation and rolling) as a
result of shear stress created by
vertical velocity gradients in the
streamflow.

2. Suspended Bed Material Load

bed material that becomes
suspended by action of turbulence.

3. Wash Load – fine material that

is carried by the flow in
suspension, but is not represented
in the bed material.

Slide #7
 Depositional Zones in Reservoir
Topset beds – bedload
material or coarse
suspended bedload
(delta deposits)
Foreset bed - the face
of the delta deposits,
steeper slope and
decrease in grain size
Bottomset beds – fine
material deposited
beyond the delta by
turbidity currents or non-
stratified flow. (also
organic mat’l; floods can
introduce layers of
larger particles)
Slide #8
 Consequences of Reservoir
Sedimentation
 Loss of Storage (yield; reliability)

 Upstream: loss of navigable depths

 Downstream: degradation of channel; loss of land and habitats

 Hydropower: downstream deposits can increase TW depths, decrease

efficiency

 Abrasion of turbines

 Coastal areas: loss of coastlines when silt supply is interrupted

Slide #9
Loss of Storage due to sedimentation

CVEN 4838/5838 Slide #10

 Design for Sediment Deposition:
Trap Efficiency
Trap Efficiency: Ratio of trapped sediment to incoming sediment (%)
(ability of the reservoir to entrap sediment)

a function of

1. ratio of reservoir volume

to mean annual
runoff volume (C/I)
2. sediment
characteristics

Slide #11
 Design Life of a Reservoir
Design Life:
the period required for the reservoir to fulfill its intended purpose (or the
period over which the economic benefits are projected).
Typically 50 to 100 years

Design for sediment accumulation:

traditionally this meant providing a reservoir storage capacity large enough to
store all the accumulated sediment deposits without encroachment on the
designed water-storage volume.

Calculations of sediment-filling rates

Compute for each of successive time intervals:
- for storage at beginning of interval, find C/I ratio
- determine trap efficiency
- calculate accumulated sediments
- determine new storage at end of interval

Slide #12
 Sustainable Development
 We should develop and use reservoirs for the benefits of present and
future generations in a socially, environmentally and economically
acceptable manner.

 Along with the right to develop and use reservoirs comes the
responsibility to meet the needs of present and future generations.

 To achieve sustainable development and use of reservoirs and a higher

quality of life for all people, we should gradually reduce and eliminate
unsustainable patterns of development and use subject to social,
environmental, and economic considerations.

 Reservoir sedimentation shortens the useful life of reservoirs. Systematic

and thorough consideration of technical, social, environmental, and
economic factors should be made to prolong the useful life of reservoirs.

“The worst enemy of sustainable use of reservoirs is sedimentation.”

(Yang)
Slide #13
 Elements of Sediment Management
(from Morris and Fan, Reservoir Sedimentation Handbook, Sec 1.2)
1. Reduce sediment inflow
sediment delivery to the reservoir can be reduced by techniqus such as erosion
control and upstream sediment trapping.
2. Route sediments
Some or all of the inflowing sediment load may be hydraulically routed beyond the
storage pool by techniques such as drawdown during sediment-laden floods, off-
stream reservoirs, sediment bypass, and venting of turbid density currents.
3. Sediment removal
Deposited sediments may be periodically removed by hydraulic flushing, hydraulic
dredging, or dry excavation.
4. Provide large storage volume
Reservoir benefits may be considered sustainable if a storage volume is provided
that exceeds the volume of the sediment supply in the u.s. watershed. The required
sediment storage volume may be included within the reservoir pool or in one or
more u.s. impoundments.
5. Sediment placement
Focus sediment deposition in areas where its subsequent removal is facilitated, or
where it minimizes interference with reservoir operation. Configure intakes and
other facilities to minimize interference from transported or deposited sediments.
Slide #14
Sediment Routing
Sediment Pass-Through
1. Seasonal drawdown
2. Flood drawdown by hydrograph
prediction
3. Flood drqwdown by rule curve
4. Venting turbid density currents
Sediment Bypass
1. On-channel storage
2. Off-channel storage
3. Subsurface storage

CVEN 4838/5838 Slide #15

Sediment Routing at Three Gorges Dam
In flood season, operating level is
lowered to increase velocities to
carry sediment out. Flood
hydrograph is intended to mimic
natural hydrograph in terms of both
flow and sediment.
Sediment passage through the dam
will help offset bed degradation d.s.
Initially the reservoir will trap bed
material, causing channel
degradation below the dam, until
limited by the formation of a gravel
armor layer. After approximately 60
years, the combination of armoring
and increased bed material
discharge through the dam is
expected to halt and possbily
reverse d.s. degradation. Slide #16
 Sediment Routing via Venting of Turbid
Density Currents
The turbid density current is the
gravity-induced movement of a
denser (sediment-ladened)
fluid under clearer water.
Sediment-ladened water enters
the reservoir and plunges
beneath the clear water, and
travels d.s. along the
submerged thalweg. It
depostis coarser material
along the bottom and the
current may dissipate.
The turbid density current can be
vented from the dam through
low-level sluices.
Slide #17
Sanmenxia Key Water Control Project
The Sanmenxia dam is situated on the main
stream of the Yellow River at the junction of
Sanmenxia City in Henan Province and Pinglu
County in Shanxi Province .It was the first major
project built on the main river as recommended in
the Comprehensive Planning of the Yellow River
Basin in 1955. It controls 92% of the total drainage
area of the river including two of the three major
flood source areas and controls 89% of the runoff
and 98%of the sediment carrying down the lower
Yellow River. Dam construction started in April
1957 and the principal structures completed in
September 1960. It consists of a dam, outlet
structures and a power plaint. In the original
design, the maximum water level in the reservoir
was set at elevation 360m, a total storage capacity
64.7 billion m3 ,an installed capacity 1160MW and
resettlement of 870,000 people. The reservoir area
includes a part of the main river downstream Long
men and the lower reaches of tributaries Weihe
and Beiluohe River, located in Shanxi , Shanxi and
Henan Province, Taking Tongguan as a
demarcation, the reservoir area naturally falls into
two different types of morphology, that is a lake-
type reservoir for the upper stream part and
channel-type reservoir in the downstream part.

Slide #18
After putting into operation, the reservoir was severely silted and the backwater opposites extended
rapidly towards the upper stream, threatening the industrial and agricultural production of the
lower reaches of the Weihe River. In addition, there were many difficulties to resettle a large
number of people and to operate the reservoir according to the original design. In order to
alleviate the serious reservoir sedimentation problem and to develop benefits, the late Premier
Zhou Enlai presided over a meeting on harnessing the Yellow River in December 1964. During
the meeting, a policy of ¡°Ensuring the safety of Xi¡¯an City in the upstream as well as that of the
lower Yellow River¡± was set up and decision was made on the reconstruction of outlet
Structures to increase the capacity of sluicing sediment and releasing flood, leading to a change
of the operational mode of storing water and retaining sediment. The reconstruction work was
carried out in two stages: In the first stage, two tunnels were built on the left bank for sluicing
sediment and releasing flood and four penstocks were remolded into outlets. The first stage work
was completed in August 1968, the discharge capacity had been increased from 3080 to 6100
m3/s at water level 315m. The second stage was to reopen 8 bottom outlets previously used for
diversion for sluicing sediment, to lower the intake elevation of the penstocks No. 1~5 for power
generation from 300m to 287m, and install five generation units with a total installed capacity of
250MW. The second stage reconstruction commenced in December 1969, 8 bottom outlets
opened one after another until October 1971. The first generating unit started to operate at the
end of 1973, and the rest were put into operation by the end of 1978. After reconstruction,
releasing capacity of all the outlets increased to 10,000m3/s at elevation 315m. and the
operational mode of the reservoir has been changed into ¡°storing the clear water and releasing
the muddy¡±, i.e. the reservoir stores water and retains sediment in non-flood season (November
to next June), managing the water for irrigation and ice flood prevention, while in the flood
season (July-October), the water level lowers down for sluicing sediment. Hydropower will be
generated all year round.
By the operational practice since 1974, it has been proved that the reconstruction of the project and
the new operational mode are successful.

Slide #19
At present, the effective storage capacity of the reservoir below elevation 335m amounts to 5.9
billion m3, in which an effective storage of 1.8 billion m3 below elevation 326m has been kept for
long run, giving effective play to comprehensive benefits of summer flood and ice run flood
prevention, irrigation, water supply and power generation. When a major flood occurs in the
upstream basin of Sanmenxia, the outflow released from the dam would be limited to less than
15,000m3/s through reservoir regulation; when a major flood occurs in the downstream area of
the project, the standard for flood prevention in the lower reaches could be increased from less
than once in 100 years at present to once in 1,000 years through coordinating the operation of
the Sanmenxia, Xiaolangdi Reservoir and Luhun Reservoir on the tributary of Yihe River and
Guxian Reservoir now under construction on the tributary of Luohe River. In the past 15years,
during ice run period, release from the reservoir was regulated by utilizing the effective storage
capacity bellow elevation 326m of the Sanmenxia Reservoir. This has played an important role in
reducing the threatening of ice run flood and guarantee the safety of the lower Yellow River,
Besides, in coordination with the ice run control, in average, 1.4 billion m3 of water were stored
annually in the spring, mitigating to certain extent the contradictions of water shortage for
irrigation on both banks, and that for cities and industries such as the Zhongyuan and Shengli Oil
Fields on the lower Yellow River in May and June. By 1988, the accumulated output of electricity
amounted to 12.0 billion kw¡¤h, equivalent to 700 million yuan.
With the mode of operation to store clear water and release the muddy in the reservoir, the rate of
aggradation in the lower reaches of the Yellow River has been reduced because the river
channel would be scoured in non-flood season due to the release of clear water and during flood
season more sediment may be transported by a greater discharge. The modified flow regime is
more suitable to sediment transport of the lower reaches. It is estimated that, in average, the
annual amount of deposition in the lower reaches has been reduced by about 60 million tons.
The practice of operation by water and sediment regulation in the Sanmenxia Reservoir has set
an example and provided valuable experiences for solving sediment problems of large sized
reservoirs built on sediment laden rivers.

Slide #20