Projects & Programs
Bonneville Project Powerhouse 2 Fish Guidance Efficiency Simulations
The improvements made to a single centrally located turbine intake of Bonneville Project’s Powerhouse 2 greatly improved fish guidance efficiency (FGE) into the gatewell. Given that the design for these improvements was made without a lateral flow component, a three-dimensional computational fluid dynamic of the Bonneville forebay and Powerhouse 2 created by PNNL, was used to ascertain the extent of lateral flow into the turbine intakes, the impact of project operations on the magnitude of lateral flow and the effects of implementing turbine intake extensions and using an existing ice and trash sluiceway. In addition, the detailed intake model was modified to include the FGE improvements and used for comparison to reduced scale physical model results.
Results and Benefits
Results for 15 scenarios were rapidly produced, which started with an existing model of the forebay that PNNL had previously implemented. Our development of graphics and movies aided understanding of the hydraulic environment. Results from these types of studies also guide future physical model studies and engineering design efforts.