McNary Dams Research Articles

Spillway jet regime and total dissolved gas prediction with a multiphase flow model

ABSTRACTA numerical model, based on the open source code OpenFOAM, was developed to predict jet regimes and total dissolved gas downstream of spillways. The model utilizes the volume of fluid method to track the interface between air and water. A detached eddy simulation model is used for turbulence closure. Transport and dissolution of bubbles are predicted using an Eulerian approach. A bubble number density equation was implemented to predict bubble size changes caused by dissolution and compression. Total dissolved gas was computed using a transport equation that includes the mass transfer between bubbles and water. The model simultaneously captured spillway jet regimes and distribution of total dissolved gas in a spillway sectional model of McNary Dam. Model parameters, gas volume fraction and bubble size at the entrainment region, were calibrated to match total dissolved gas measured in the field under different dam operations.

Response of downstream migrant juvenile Pacific salmonids to accelerating flow and overhead cover

Mechanical structures designed to divert or guide juvenile migrant salmon at dams often work less effectively than expected. This likely results from a lack of understanding of fish behaviour. In order to address this, a series of experiments was conducted at McNary dam, USA, to assess the influence of hydraulic transition and overhead cover on the behaviour of seaward migrating juvenile Pacific salmon. Fish passing through a flume encountered a choice of route that varied based on hydraulic factors and overhead cover. Direct observation revealed that individuals elicited strong avoidance behaviour when they encountered areas where hydraulic conditions changed rapidly or were covered. Our findings have implications relevant to fish pass design and culvert restoration in Europe. Critically, improvement of current fish pass design and development of alternative mechanisms that effectively block fish access to, and divert fish away from poor passage routes, requires consideration of the behavioural component of fish migration.

Renibaeterium salmoninarumin Spring–Summer Chinook Salmon Smolts at Dams on the Columbia and Snake Rivers

Abstract We evaluated Renibaeterium salmoninarum infection in smolts of hatchery and wild spring-summer Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha sampled during most of the outmigration at Little Goose (1988) and Lower Granite dams (1988–1991) on the Snake River and at Priest Rapids and McNary dams on the Columbia River (1988–1990). We sampled 860–2,178 fish per dam each year. Homogenates of kidney–spleen tissue from all fish were tested for the presence of R. salmoninarum antigens by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and homogenates from 10% of the fish were examined by the fluorescent antibody technique (FAT). Although only 1–11% of fish sampled at a given dam during any l year exhibited lesions characteristic of bacterial kidney disease, 86–100% of the fish tested positive for R. salmoninarum antigen by ELISA, whereas 4–17% of the fish tested positive by the FAT. During most years, a majority (68–87%) of fish testing positive by the ELISA had low R. salmoninarum antigen levels, but in 1989, ...

Evidence for Fluoride Effects on Salmon Passage at John Day Dam, Columbia River, 1982–1986

Abstract There is evidence that fluoride from an aluminum plant near John Day Dam had a significant negative effect on passage time and survival of adult Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. at the dam. In 1982, fluoride concentrations of 0.3-0.5 mg/L were recorded at the dam. These concentrations were probably representative of fluoride levels at the dam in earlier years as well, based on the aluminum plant's fluoride discharge records since 1971. From 1980 to 1982, the time (> 150 h) required for upstream migrants to pass John Day Dam and the mortality (>50%) of migrants between Bonneville and McNary dams (below and above John Day Dam) were unacceptably high. Bioassay experiments on the behavior of upstream-migrating adult salmon suggested that fluoride concentrations of about 0.5 mg/L would adversely affect migration. Subsequent experiments suggested that 0.2 mg F/L was at or below the threshold for fluoride sensitivity of chinook salmon O. tshawytscha and below the threshold for fluoride sensitivity of co...

Effects of Variation in Flow on Distributions of Northern Squawfish in the Columbia River below McNary Dam

Abstract The movements of 23 northern Squawfish Ptychocheilus oregonensis were monitored by radiotelemetry below a Columbia River hydroelectric dam during the out-migration of juvenile anadromous salmonids in 1984 and 1985. The work was done as part of a study to relate predator abundances and distribution to juvenile salmonid mortalities associated with dams. Northern Squawfish remained in protected shoreline areas in spring and early summer, when discharge rates were high, but moved close to the dam and the juvenile bypass outflow area in mid to late summer, when discharge rates were low. Trends in northern Squawfish movements were similar during abrupt changes in discharge rate. During short-term closures of the spillway, when flow patterns were abruptly changed, four of five northern Squawfish moved out of protected areas and into the main river channel. Surface water velocities at 81 locations occupied by radio-tagged northern Squawfish in June to August 1985 ranged from 0 to 70 cm/s (mean, 24.5 cm/s...

Model and Prototype Research on Fish Ladders

Description of 3 major fishway installations operated by Corps of Engineers, 2 more under construction, and several in planning stage; results of studies to determine most efficient solutions; laboratory studies on scale models and also on full scale models of fish ladders; details of fishways at McNary dam and Ice Harbor dam.

Model and Prototype Research on Fish Ladders

Description of 3 major fishway installations operated by Corps of Engineers, 2 more under construction, and several in planning stage; results of studies to determine most efficient solutions; laboratory studies on scale models and also on full scale models of fish ladders; details of fishways at McNary dam and Ice Harbor dam.

Adjustable-voltage control handles 250-ton crane loads at mcnary dam

Adjustable-voltage control handles 250-ton crane loads at mcnary dam