Preventing fine sediment settling with jet-like inflows and intake-like outflows in reservoirs

Reservoir sedimentation is one of the main issue in the operational management of dams. The resulting filling up of reservoirs has negative impacts on hydropower production, irrigation, flood protection and drinking water supply. New economical and sustainable solutions for sediment management in reservoirs have to be found. The latest concept suggests that the most efficient and sustainable measures consist to maintain sediment flows continuity from the tail to downstream of the reservoir. In pumped-storage plants, an adequate location and combination of inlets and outlets should generate a sediment routing through the reservoir avoiding sedimentation. This study aims to describe how the hydrodynamic of the reservoir induced by a jet-like inflow and an intake-like outflow influences the sedimentation rate of fine sediment contained within the reservoir. Moreover, the influence of various parameters, such as the relative position of the jets, the concentration of sediment entering the reservoir and the jet velocity, and their impact on sedimentation process and sediment deposition pattern are investigated. At this aim, numerical simulations were performed on a Computational Fluid Dynamic software (ANSYSCFX). The results will allow to characterize the hydrodynamic in the reservoir and its influence on sedimentation process