Topologies and measurements of turbulent flow in vertical slot fishways.

Several vertical slot fishways have been built in France over the last 20 years. This type of pool fish pass is generally very effective in ensuring passage of the target species, particularly diadromous species. However, visual observations have shown that certain small species may be trapped in the large recirculation zones and seem to have difficulty in rapidly passing through very large pools. An experimental study was undertaken to characterize the turbulent flow for various configurations of vertical slot fishways and to determine how they might be modified to facilitate the passage of small species. The characteristics of mean flow and turbulence were studied by particle image velocimetry (PIV) for three slopes ( I = 5%, 10%, 15%), three flow discharges ( Q = 576, 736, 864 L/s) and four pool widths ( B = 1.7, 2, 2.3, 2.7 m). The results showed that the flow pattern always follows one of two topological models depending on the length/width ratio of the pool. A strong link was found between the calculated volumetric dissipated power and the mean kinetic energy of velocity fluctuations measured in the pools. In order to study the extent to which the dimensions of recirculation zones can be reduced, the effect of the insertion of vertical cylinders within the pools was displayed by laser tomography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]