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- Conventional Hydro
Development and Operation of the Flow Measurement Accuracy Assessment Tool
Lead Companies
University of Tennessee- Knoxville
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mark Christian
The following report documents the generation of a tool developed by the author over the course of an awarded fellowship by the Hydro Research Foundation. The Appendix of this report contains operational instructions for the use of the tool. The purpose of this tool is to provide the user with an established, rigorous technique to determine the accuracy associated with the application of a user specified number of flow measurement instruments. This tool specifically simulates the application of Current Meters and Acoustic Time of Flight Meters. The tool has been extensively tested and demonstrated consistent operation while being utilized within stated operational constraints. Case studies of both Current Meters and Acoustic Time of Flight Meters demonstrate that the recorded flow rate accuracy changes significantly as a function of: the number of sensors applied; the location of the sensors within the flow path; and overall flow rate itself. Demonstration of this variance acts to validate the need for further research into the effectiveness of flow measurement across the range of hydroelectric facilities given the influence of flow measurement accuracy on plant efficiency and revenue. It should be noted by the reader that the presented work along with the developed tool is preliminarily in nature. Therefore the findings and methodologies developed over the course of this research will be subjected to further peer review via: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Technical Manuscript Report, University of Tennessee Energy Science and Engineering Thesis or Journal Publication. This work is a subsection of the research the author is performing to attain a Doctorate in Energy Science and Engineering at the University of Tennessee which will establish scaling relations between hydroelectric plant characteristics and the value of flow measurement accuracy.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Intake Gates
Status
complete
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Gates Inspection and Maintenance Guide
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- 03/108
The purpose of this project is to develop an Inspection and Maintenance Guide to sustain the equipment health of existing gate structures, including the effective identification and correction of anomalies that may hamper reliable and safe flow shut-off and/or discharge capability.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Intake Gates
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
Expected 2022
- Conventional Hydro
Hydraulic Generating Station Penstock Maintenance and Repair Reference Manual
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0393
The guide aims to enhance understanding of penstock risks and potential failure modes (PFMs) while providing guidance for maintenance and repair practices.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Penstock
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Improving Timing and Volume of Hydrosystem Inflow
Lead Companies
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Lead Researcher (s)
- Mark Wigmosta
This project provides a proof of concept to identify the potential of forest restoration to improve inflows to the hydrosystem that may be beneficial to salmon habitat and increase power production.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Hydraulic Optimization
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
TBD
- Conventional Hydro
Penstock Inspection and Assessment Reference Manual
Lead Companies
CEATI International
Lead Researcher (s)
- #0388
In developing this guide, the basic approach was to integrate two existing ASCE publications, Guidelines for Evaluating Aging Penstocks (1995) and Guidelines for Inspection and Monitoring of In-Service Penstocks (2000), into a single reference manual, enhanced where appropriate with current practices and augmented by contemporary risk-informed decision making and existing best management practices for penstock asset management, monitoring and surveillance.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Penstock
Status
complete
Completion Date
2020
- Conventional Hydro
Reduced Order Description of Experimental Two-Phase Pipe Flows: Characterizations of Flow Structures and Dynamics via Proper Orthogonal Decomposition
Lead Companies
University: Portland State University
Lead Researcher (s)
- Bianca Viggiano
Multiphase pipe flow is investigated using proper orthogonal decomposition for tomographic X-ray data, where holdup, cross-sectional phase distributions and phase interface characteristics within the pipe are obtained. Six cases of stratified and mixed flow with water content of 10%, 30% and 80% are investigated to gain insight into effects of velocity and proportion of water on the flow fields. Dispersed and slug flows are separately analyzed to consider the added interface complexity of the flow fields. These regimes are also highly applicable to industry operational flows. Instantaneous and fluctuating phase fractions of the four flow regime are analyzed and reduced order dynamical descriptions are generated. Stratified flow cases display coherent structures that highlight the liquid-liquid interface location while the mixed flow cases show minimal coherence of the eigenmodes. The dispersed flow displays coherent structures for the first few modes near the horizontal center of the pipe, representing the liquidliquid interface location while the slug flow case shows coherent structures that correspond to the cyclical formation and break up of the slug in the first 5 modes. The low order descriptions of the high water content, stratified flow field indicates that main characteristics can be captured with minimal degrees of freedom. Reconstructions of the dispersed flow and slug flow cases indicate that dominant features are observed in the low order dynamical description utilizing less than 1% of the full order model. POD temporal coefficients a1, a2 and a3 show a high level of interdependence for the slug flow case. The coefficients also describe the phase fraction holdup as a function of time for both dispersed and slug flow. The second coefficient, a2, and the centerline holdup profile show a mean percent difference below 9% between the two curves. The mathematical description obtained from the decomposition will deepen the understanding of multiphase flow characteristics and is applicable to long distance multiphase transport pipelines, fluidized beds, hydroelectric power and nuclear processes to name a few
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Penstock
Status
complete
Completion Date
2017
- Conventional Hydro
Renewable Energy Production from Water Distribution Systems
Lead Companies
Georgia Institute of Technology
Lead Researcher (s)
- Ilker Telci
Water quality monitoring and search for environment friendly energy sources is becoming two of the most popular engineering research topics as we better understand the limits of our planet. In this thesis, first an optimal design methodology for water quality monitoring networks in river systems is developed. Next, a data interpretation approach is proposed to identify pollution source locations utilizing the water quality measurements supplied by the monitoring network. As the third topic, the thesis introduces an optimal design technique for energy recovery systems in water distribution networks. In the first part of this thesis, an optimization algorithm is developed for the water quality monitoring system. In this process, the best monitoring locations are determined by utilizing the outcomes of a simulation model. The results of the simulation model is an essential component of this approach since they incorporate the unsteady and stochastic nature of hydrodynamics and the contaminant fate and transport processes in rivers into the optimization model. In this approach, the ideal monitoring locations are determined through a multi-objective optimization technique. One of the objectives of the monitoring system is specified as the early detection of the contaminants and the other as the reliability of the monitoring network. The methodology developed was first applied to a simple hypothetical river system to demonstrate the importance of the unsteady hydrological properties of the watershed on the optimal locations of the monitoring stations. Then, it is tested on a realistic river system. The results show that the design technique developed can be effectively used for the optimal design of monitoring networks in river systems. In the second part of the study, a methodology for rapid identification of contaminant source locations is introduced. Since this is an ill posed problem which has non-unique solutions, a classification routine which correlates candidate spill locations with the measurements at the water quality monitoring stations is developed. For this purpose, the breakthrough curve of a contaminant measured at monitoring site is parameterized using its statistical moments. Then, a large number of spill scenarios are simulated for the training of the monitoring system. After the training process, the method is ready for sequential elimination of the candidate locations which leads to the identification of spill location for a breakthrough curve observed at the monitoring station. The model developed is applied to real river system and the results show that this technique can be a reliable starting point for the contaminant source investigation projects The third part of the thesis is devoted to renewable energy production from water distribution systems. The main idea behind this study is to harvest as much available excess energy as possible by utilizing micro turbines. The energy production at these turbines is constrained by the minimum pressure limit set by the management. Moreover, the unsteady nature of the flow in the network results in variations in the available excess energy. These aspects of the water distribution systems necessitate operation schedules for the micro turbines. In this study, a simulation-optimization method is developed which maximizes the energy recovered at the micro turbine(s). This simulationoptimization model is based on Genetic Algorithms (GA). A smart seeding of the GA is introduced to lower the computational burden. The algorithm tests several energy recovery system configurations which has different turbine locations and turbine types. Then the best configuration which has the highest energy production is selected. The methodology is first applied to a real pump driven network. Then, this network is converted into a hypothetical gravity driven system and the optimization model is tested on this new system. The results show that the energy recovery systems in water distribution networks can provide significant economic and environmental benefits and the methodology introduced is not only an optimal design tool but also an effective means of assessing the renewable energy potential in water distribution systems.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Canal
Status
complete
Completion Date
2012
- Conventional Hydro
Seepage Detection and Characterization in a Truckee Canal Site using L-band Synthetic-Aperture Radar (SAR) Technology
Lead Companies
Bureau of Reclamation
Lead Researcher (s)
- Jong Beom Kang
Reclamation alone holds tens of thousands of miles of in-service water conveyance canals within its infrastructure inventory. Many of these canal systems have aged beyond their original intended life-span, are showing signs of aging and disrepair, extensive seepage and embankment failure events are becoming increasingly common, and consequences of canal failures within urban corridors are constantly increasing due to urban encroachment on these water conveyance structures. In addition to the problem of increased risk related to canal embankment failures, concentrated and distributed seepage poses a major challenge to water conservation due to significant water conveyance system losses. An ongoing need to identify and comprehensively characterize and quantify canal seepage, both for safety related and water conservation efforts, is the main motivation for this proposed research. Existing capabilities of Reclamation team members include field and lab data collection and analysis expertise, modeling expertise, required background/supportive data and information knowledge and access, and site-specific knowledge and access permissions. Non-Reclamation team members will bring SAR data analysis expertise, and hydrologic modeling expertise, and access to critical and supportive data and prior/ongoing research results. This is cutting-edge seepage-related research that makes use of interdisciplinary collaborative research coordination with top scientists within each participating field.
Technology Application
Conventional Hydro
Research Category
Water Conveyance
Research Sub-Category
Canal
Status
ongoing
Completion Date
2020
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Contact Marla Barnes at: marla@hydro.org