Reservoir Sedimentation and Sediment Sluicing: Experimental and Numerical Analysis

The purpose of the investigation described herein is to perform basic research on sediment sluicing as a method to restore or maintain reservoir storage capacity. The objectives are a) to understand the nature of reservoir aggradation and degradation in simple cases usmg laboratory models, and b) to develop a one-dimensional mathematical model to describe the physical processes involved. The remainder of the thesis is organized as follows: first a literature review describes the process of reservoir sedimentation in detail, including methods of preserving reservoir capacity and sediment sluicing effectiveness. The review also discusses experimental and mathematical modeling approaches used in past reservoir sedimentation investigations. The experiments are then described, including the setup, procedure, and results. Development and testing of the numerical model are then presented including an illustration of a field-scale case. This is followed by the development of equations for the bed slope and elevation of rectangular channels of varying width.