The Investigation and Evaluation of the Pressure Flushing Through Storage Reservoirs Using Physical Models

Sedimentation in reservoirs is one of the most serious problems of most dams. Sustainable reservoir management necessitates the deposited sediment most be removed to reduce the inactive storage of the reservoir. Different methods can be used accordingly to control sedimentation and maintenance of the dam reservoir. Dredging, sluicing, and flushing are among these methods. In flushing methods, the previously deposited sediment would be flushed from the reservoir by opening the bottom outlets. In the pressure flushing method, the amount of the flushed sediments depends on many parameters such as the water depth over the bottom outlets, the discharge through bottom outlets, the size of the outlets, the geometry of the reservoir, and the size and type of the sediments. In this study laboratory experiments were performed to investigate the flushing processes during pressure flushing. The effects of the discharge through bottom outlets and the water depth over the bottom outlets were investigated using 3 sizing of non-cohesive sediments (fine, medium, and coarse sediments). The physical model was constructed in the Hydraulic Laboratory at the Water and Science Collage of the University of Shahid Chamran, Ahwaz, Iran. The results indicated that the amount of sediment flushed increases as the depth of water in reservoir decreases and the discharge from outlets increases. Under the same conditions the flushed sediment volume is increased moving from coarse sediments to fine sediments.