The influence of different morphological units on the turbulent flow characteristics in step-pool mountain streams

Abstract

The morphology of step-pools is often implemented for ecological restoration and for the creation of close-to-nature fish passes. Step-pools display spatio-temporal variations in bed and flow characteristics due to meso-scale units such as step, tread, base of step, and pool. Exclusive research on the effects of bed variations in step-pools on the flow dynamics is limited. Here, we conducted laboratory experiments on a physical model downscaled from a field site in the Western Ghats, Kerala, India. The results of Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA show significant differences in the velocity and turbulent intensities for the morphological units. A regression equation of the form Power-Allometric1 has been proposed to relate the normalized turbulent kinetic energy with the velocity magnitude. The present study also estimated the range of Reynolds shear stress and energy dissipation factor existent in the step-pool systems. The normalized values of Reynolds shear stress in the x–z plane ranged from − 19.477 to 13.729, and energy dissipation factors obtained for the three step-pool systems are 321, 207, and 123 W/m3; both the results reveal insufficient pool volume for adequate energy dissipation. The study concludes that while designing close-to-nature step-pool fish passes, pool dimensions should be finalized with respect to the target aquatic species.

Experimental and numerical investigation on the hydraulic design criteria for a step-pool nature-like fishway

“…The instrument is accurate to ±1% of the measured value ±1 mm/s. The data was filtered using Win-ADV software for correlation coefficient greater than 40%, subjected to a minimum of 70% retainment of data (Martin et al, 2002; Cea et al, 2007; Kalathil and Chandra, 2021) and sound to noise ratio (SNR) greater than 15 dB. The data was thereafter processed applying the phase-space threshold de-spiking method of Goring and Nikora (2002).…”