MONITORING OF SEDIMENTATION

2.1 Introduction

Extreme Sediments loads in rivers, mainly during monsoons, are among the major
problems related to man’s development of water resources. Sediment transport will
remain a natural phenomenon. Reliable and efficient systems for sediment control and
removal of sediment from withdrawn water will therefore always be one of the several
preconditions for the successful use of water resources.

Run-of-river projects and storage schemes with large dams are today the only feasible
hydropower projects in river basin with severe sediment transport problem. The reservoir
sedimentation phenomenon has excluded the possibility of constructing medium-sized
reservoir for long-term regulation purpose. Medium-sized reservoir in this context is
defined as those with a total volume between 3 percent and 30 percent of the mean annual
run-off. . Basically two types of hydropower projects are feasible for sediment loaded river.

 Run-of-River project.

 Storage schemes with large dam project (water storage project)

Needed of sediment data for RoR project and Storage types of projects are different.

2.2 Types of Sediment Data

For large dam project long term average value of sediment inflow is important to
determine the economic lifetime of the project. But for Run-of-River projects we need to
know:

 What types of sediment? – generally hardness of sediment (quartz is very harmful

and causes turbine wear)

 How much sediment comes to the turbine, (Quantity of sediment)?

 Time series of sediment concentration, C = F (time)

 Grain size distribution (particle site distribution) – for design of setting basin.

Sediment data is needed for:

 Planning and design of Hydropower project and design of settling basin.

 Simulation of hydropower projects.

  Operation and maintenance.

During operation real time sediment data is very much importance. If the sediment inflow
to the turbine is high it is better to close powerhouse.

From the experience it is recommended that power should be closed;

1. If the sediment concentration> 6000 PPM

2. If the deposit rate of the sediment in the settling basin more than flushing rate.

3. If the water level of downstream river is equal to the water level of the basin, i.e. no
head is available for sediment flushing.

The following are the data available for river engineering:

1. Concentration of suspended sediment load- which is very important for hydro power
project

2. Content of organic material and handiness of suspended load

3. Bed load transport rates. (generally for rood and bridge)

4. Size distribution of transported sediment (bed load plus suspended load)

5. Size distribution of riverbed material

2.3 Data Acquisition and Sediment Sampling Technique

On the basic of sediment data for several streams, the annual worldwide yield of sediment
to the oceans has been estimated to be about 20 billion tons (Holeman, 1968). Most
sediment data needs one of more practical concern, such as; the design of the intake, the
sediment removal facilities and the canal system. The sediment data include:

 Data on bed material movement and its variation with river discharge. This
indicates the sensitivity of the intake, the movement of gravel, cobbles or boulders.

 Data on suspended solids, including concentration, size grading, vertical distribution

and seasonal variation. This indicates the need for a setting basin or other removal
arrangements to provide compatibility with the design of the canal system.

The accuracy of sediment discharge determination is dependent not only upon the field
methods and equipment utilized in the collection of data, but upon knowledge of the
distribution of the sediment in the flow. Particularly valuable is an understanding of the
vertical and horizontal distribution of the sediment in a stream cross section, together with
the information on the site of the bed material and on the bed form.