Investigating the Flow Pattern in Baffle Fishway Denil Type

Denil fishway contains a direct rectangular channel in different slope rates associated with special baffles inside the channel. The layout of the baffles provides an energy dissipation process which provides an acceptable operating condition for passing the fish in continues path along the channel. Denil fishway divides the current to two different parts, including the main current located at the middle of the channel and lateral currents along the frame position. The interaction between main and lateral currents provides the main process of mass and acceleration movement and concludes a significant energy reduction based on the turbulent process. In the other words, it can be concluded that the frequent baffles make the channel very rough, which results in a suitable condition for migrating fishes to the upstream (Cea et al., 2007). Rajaratnam and Katapodis (1983) conducted common research on the hydraulic of the fishway structures. They focused on the Denil fishway as one of the most important fishway structures among different types. The result of their study on the Denil fishway is the developed equation for measuring the discharge of the flow in the channel in various geometric scenarios. The physical model of the Denil fishway was constructed in the hydraulic laboratory at Alberta university, and the flow rate and velocity profiles were measured using the electromagnetic flowmeter and miniature velocimeter, respectively. Rajaratnam and Katapodis (1983) introduced six different Denil fishway types. The result of this study has shown that the output data are relatively similar to the Denil type 2. Equations (1), (2) are the main equations of the Denil fishway type 2 based on Rajaratnam and Katapodis (1983) studies.