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- Asset Management
- Buoy
- Canal
- Climate Change
- Controls
- Dam Safety
- Environmental Impact
- Fish and Aquatic Resources
- Future Grid
- Generator
- Governor
- Hydraulic Forecasting
- Hydraulic Optimization
- Hydrokinetic
- Intake Gates
- Markets
- Penstock
- Regulatory Process
- Renewable Integration
- Sediment Transport
- Shoreline and Riparian Resources
- Spillgates
- Tidal
- Transmission Services
- Turbine
- Water Management
- Water Resources
- Water Systems
- Wave
- Conventional Hydro
Maximizing the habitat restoration potential of controlled releases at hydropower dams; Understanding impacts of hydrograph form on sediment transport
Lead Companies
University of Idaho
Lead Researcher (s)
- Megan Kenworthy
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Sediment Transport
Status
complete
Completion Date
2018
- Conventional Hydro
Measuring and evaluating ecological flows
Lead Companies
U.S. Geological Survey
Lead Researcher (s)
- James E. McKenna, Jr.
USGS scientists and partners used estimates of river and streamflow and observed fish abundances to develop tools that specify the response of fish to alterations in those flows. They fit the logistic model to a cumulative fish abundance curve as a function of yield providing an empirical means to develop models of the response of cumulative fish abundance to flows. Response zones of yield for each species in each system type illustrate how criteria may be developed that can be used in decision-making for management of flows. Mapping stream sensitivity to flow alteration throughout the Great Lakes Region with a multiscale spatial framework showed how regional variability in sensitivity for any fish species or assemblage may be evaluated and provides managers with information to help determine where the best opportunities for protection or restoration of streamflows and associated communities exist.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2018
- Conventional Hydro
Measuring and Monitoring Sediment Transport in an Ephemeral Stream; Physical and Surrogate Data Collection
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- David Varyu
Is there a strong statistical regression between surrogate measurements and definitive (direct) measurements of sediment transport in ephemeral systems? Which surrogates are the most reliable to predict the discharge of bedload (e.g., seismic or acoustic)? What characteristic of the surrogate is most informative (e.g. total acoustic power or number of impacts for acoustic; amplitude at what frequency for seismic)? Can multiple calibrated turbidity sensors account for sandy suspended sediment concentrations to determine suspended load? Can LSPIV be useful to determine water velocity and discharge in flash-flood environments as shown elsewhere? River maintenance and other in-channel projects – whether for water delivery, public safety, habitat restoration, or other – need to be designed and implemented with a knowledge or river processes and channel morphology to ensure project success. Process and morphology are a result of the magnitude and timing of water and sediment delivery to the channel. A method to adequately quantify sediment delivery from ephemeral tributaries in a reliable and cost-effective manner does not exist. This research will benefit any office charged with rivers that have ephemeral tributaries.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Mercury Loading to Streams and Reservoirs: A Process-Based Approach
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Yong Lai
The proposed research aims to develop a process-based, watershed-scale numerical model that may be used to assess and predict mercury loading to streams and reservoirs. It will answer the following research questions: (1) Can a reliable and accurate process-based, watershed-scale mercury loading model be developed that will allow Reclamation to assess the feasibility and effectiveness of mercury management measures in its facilities such as reservoirs? (2) What are the key physical and biochemical processes, among many possibilities, that should be simulated more accurately than others for a reliable mercury delivery simulation? (3) Can we develop novel numerical methods to simulate mercury delivery more efficiently and reliably than existing models?
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
- Marine Energy
MHK Data Products and User Community Development (PRIMRE-MHK DATA AND USER COMMUNITY)
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL), National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Andrea Copping, PNNL
- Cesar Castillo, SNL
- Jon Weers (NREL)
This project’s primary objective is the outreach, engagement, and development of MHK data and information communities, in alignment with WPTO goals. Reducing Barriers to Testing‒ Work with agencies and other groups to ensure that existing data is well-utilized and identify potential improvements to regulatory processes and requirements, Data Sharing and Analysis ‒ Aggregate and analyze data on MHK performance and technology advances, and maintain information sharing platforms to enable dissemination‒ Leverage expertise, technology, data, methods, and lessons from the international MHK community and other offshore scientific and industrial sectors (e.g., offshore wind, oil and gas).
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability, Technology
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources, Hydrokinetic, Renewable Integration, Tidal, Wave
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2023
- Marine Energy
Model Validation and Site Characterization for Early Deployment MHK Sites and Establishment of Wave Classification Scheme
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Sandia National Laboratory (SNL)
Lead Researcher (s)
- Zhaoqing Yang, PNNL
- Vince Neary, SNL
The project is designed to quantify and classify the physical conditions of wave and tidal resources, to provide classification schemes that reduce design costs and generation uncertainty, and to provide the data necessary for informed siting decisions. These outcomes also relate to the program’s other goals. First, detailed resource data helps to focus the locations where environmental research and risk mitigation is most needed. Second, improved resource models provide test-sites with better predictions, and classification schemes are a critical input to efficient test-site test protocols that evaluate both device performance and device reliability. Finally, high-fidelity resource models can be used as input to device simulation tools, to produce device simulations output that is based on realistic time-histories of resource conditions.
Technology Application
Marine Energy
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Water Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Modeling fish habitat and disease impacts from hydroelectric flow management
Lead Companies
U.S. Geological Survey
Lead Researcher (s)
- Russ Perry
The production of Klamath River fall Chinook salmon is thought to be limited by poor survival during freshwater juvenile life stages, in part a result of Ceratonova shasta—a highly infectious disease that can lead to fish mortality. Higher flushing river flows are thought to affect the concentration of C. shasta spores, and in turn, juvenile salmon infection and mortality. The Stream Salmonid Simulator (S3) model was built to simulate the spatiotemporal dynamics of the growth, movement, and survival of juvenile salmon from spawning through migration in response to river flow, habitat availability, water temperature, and C. shasta spore concentrations. The S3 model has been calibrated to juvenile fall Chinook salmon abundances at a trap site within the Klamath River, and was designed to provide objective predictions of juvenile salmon abundance and survival in relation to proposed flow management alternatives and resulting fish infection and mortality by C. shasta.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Modeling Fish Passage and Energetic Expenditure for American Shad in a Steeppass Fishway using a Computational Fluid Dynamics Model
Lead Companies
Montana State University
Lead Researcher (s)
- Kathryn Plymesser
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
complete
Completion Date
2014
- Conventional Hydro
Modular Helical Fish Passage for Low Head Applications
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Brett Pflugrath
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Monitoring Detritus Deposition and Scour Downstream of Minidoka Dam with Implications to Snake River Physa Snail Habitat and Irrigation Canals.
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Daniel Dombrowski
This project will study the impact of sedimentation and detritus production on the endangered species Snake River Physa Snail (Physa). This snail lives in the spillway channel below Minidoka dam. It is theorized that deposition of detritus is creating anoxic conditions detrimental to survival of the species. The scope of proposed study includes a collaborative effort to monitor sediment entrainment and transport, measure local flow velocities, and relate the effects on the ecology to dam operations.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Environmental and Sustainability
Research Sub-Category
Fish and Aquatic Resources
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2022
Don’t see your waterpower research?
Have questions about WaRP?
Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org