Bonneville Second Powerhouse Tailrace and High Flow Outfall: ADCP and drogue release field study

Abstract

The Bonneville Project is one of four US Army Corps of Engineers operated dams along the Lower Columbia River. Each year thousands of smelt pass through this Project on their way to the Pacific Ocean. High flow outfalls, if specifically designed for fish passage, are thought to have as good or better smelt survival rates as spillways. To better understand the hydrodynamic flow field around an operating outfall, the Corps of Engineers commissioned measurement of water velocities in the tailrace of the Second Powerhouse. These data also are necessary for proper calibration and verification of three-dimensional numerical models currently under development at PNNL. Hydrodynamic characterization of the tailrace with and without the outfall operating was accomplished through use of a surface drogue and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). Both the ADCP and drogue were linked to a GPS (global positioning system); locating the data in both space and time. Measurements focused on the area nearest to the high flow outfall, however several ADCP transects and drogue releases were performed away from the outfall to document ambient flow field conditions when the outfall was not operating.