Madison Shelley

BSEN 3310
Fluid Design Project
29 November 2018
Redesigned Environmentally Friendly Dam

A question I have always asked is how do dams affect the flow of biomass between rivers. A dam by
nature obstructs and adapts flow. However, the flow of nurturance is required to maintain equilibrium in the
ecosystems. The fish must migrate, and sediments must cross to protect the barrier wetlands. Damns prevent
this from happening. Dams also cause a massive change in water pressure that causes aquatic life to relocate
and habitats to shift. In hydraulic transport, we did not learn how to improve dams, but we did learn how they
work. Dams work by building a wall to stop the flow of a river. A channel is dug deep under the wall to create a
significant height difference. The height difference increases the force of water going through the channel.
This water turns a turbine to generate power and releases the water at the lower end of the river. I have
decided to redesign this fluid system using the principles I have learned in hydraulic transport. The damn I
have designed only obstructs half the river to increase the flow of sediment and allow fluid migration of
aquatic life. The issue with the design is it decreases the height difference in water levels. The force needed to
produce large amounts of energy is achieved by the height difference.

𝑊𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚𝑔Δ𝑧
Where:𝑊𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 (𝑘𝑊)
𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 (𝑘𝑔)
𝑚
𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑠2 )
Δ𝑧 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 (𝑚)

Since height can be substituted by volume, we can change the

equation to get maximum work by changing pressure instead
of height.

Δ𝑃
𝑊𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚
𝜌
Where:𝑊𝑚𝑎𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 (𝑘𝑊)
𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 (𝑘𝑔)
Δ𝑃 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 (𝑃𝑎)
𝑘𝑔
𝜌 = 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 (𝑚3 )

By doing this, we can increase the width of the damn and achieve maximum power with limited height
difference by slowly decreasing the pipe diameter. There will still be some sediment build up on the back side
of the dam that will cause a height difference in the river bed. To make sure this doesn’t become too drastic,
flow gates that will open for a few hours a day will be installed between each turbine. This will keep gravel and
sediment out of the turbines and keep the river bed level. The force requires to move these gates can be
calculated with the resultant force on a vertical plane equation.

𝑏
𝐹𝑅 = [𝑃0 + 𝜌𝑔 (𝑠 + )] 𝑎𝑏
2
Where: 𝐹𝑅 = 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝑃0 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒
𝑘𝑔
𝜌 = 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 ( 3 )
𝑚
 𝑚
𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑠2 )
𝑠 = 𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 (𝑚)
𝑏 = ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 (𝑚)
𝑎 = 𝑤𝑖𝑑𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑒 (𝑚)

We can also calculate the best length for the tunnel

around the turbine by calculating head loss for the
average velocity of the incoming fluid.
𝐿 𝑣2
ℎ𝐿 = 𝑓 𝐷 2𝑔
Where:
 ℎ𝐿 = ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑝𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑚)
 𝑓 = 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑟𝑡𝑜𝑟
𝑚
 𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑠2 )
 𝐿 = 𝑝𝑖𝑝𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ (𝑚)
𝑚
 𝑣 = 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ( 2 )
𝑠

To decrease head loss, rounded edges at the entrance and around the turbine are preferred. Another way to
prevent energy loss is to keep Reynolds number low by smoothly decreasing pipe diameter with limited
obstructions. The most turbulence will happen around the turbine because it changed the direction of the
flow. This needs to be calmed before it exits the front of the damn because turbulent water disrupts
ecosystems. A way to achieve this is decreasing the discharge coefficient by increasing the height of the outlet
area of the pipe to make it exit at the current water level of the river. The discharge velocity formula is
manipulated by adding discharge coefficient to account for the loss of velocity due to obstruction.

𝑉 = 𝐶𝑑 √2𝑔𝑦1
𝑚
Where: 𝑉 = 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑠2 )
𝐶𝑑 = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑚
𝑔 = 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝑠2 )
𝑦1 = 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑚)

The design of a damn has a lot of math behind it, but not just from hydraulic transport. There are many
physics equations that are needed to build a successful damn. The two equations I think are most beneficial is
the moment of force and the kinetic energy equation.

𝑀 = 𝐹𝑑
Where: 𝑀 = 𝑀𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝐹 = 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝑑 = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒

1
𝐸𝑘 = 𝑚𝑣 2
2
Where: 𝐸𝑘 = 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦
𝑚 = 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 (𝑘𝑔)
𝑚
𝑣 = 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 ( 2 )
𝑠
Moment of force can not only be used to calculate that force of the water would cause the damn to tip it can
also be used to calculate what size turbine can be used with the given force of water from the river. The size
and mass of the turbine are significant. For each velocity, a specific shape and mass of the turbine must be
used to obtain maximum power output. The kinetic energy equation can be used to calculate for the mass of
the turbine and how fast it is spinning how much energy is stored in the generator. The turbine is not shown in
the diagram, just a rough diagram of how the tunnel shape will be designed. The designs main function is to
represent how the shape of the dam will affect the river bed.