PNNL

Abstract

Juvenile salmon can be injured and killed when they pass through hydroelectric turbines and other downstream passage alternatives. The hydraulic conditions in these complex environments that pose a risk to the health of fish include turbulent shear flows, collisions with hydraulic structures, cavitation, and rapid change of pressure. Improvements in the understating of the biological responses of juvenile salmon in turbulent shear flows can reduce salmon injury and mortality. In a series of studies, juvenile fall Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawythscha) were exposed to turbulent shear flows in two mechanisms: 1) the slow-fish-to-fast-water mechanism, where test fish were introduced into a turbulent jet from slow-moving water through an introduction tube placed just outside the edge of the jet; 2) the fast-fish-to-slow-water mechanism, where test fish were carried by the fast-moving water of a submerged turbulent jet into the slow-moving water of a flume. All fish exposures to the water jet were recorded by two high-speed, high-resolution cameras. Motion-tracking analysis was then performed on the digital videos to quantify associated kinematic and dynamic parameters. The main results for the slow-fish-to-fast-water mechanism were described in Deng et al (2005). This chapter will discuss the test results of the fast-fish-to-slow-water mechanism and compare the results of the two mechanisms.