MAXIMUM DEPTH OF RESERVOIR DRAWDOWN
P. P. Denisov UDC 627.815
One of the parameters of a revervoir requiring technical and economic substantiation is
its depth of drawdown in the design low-flow period. It is determined by the useful delivery
of water to consumers of the water-management complex, firm power of the hydroelectric sta-
tion, depth of the water intakes of the hydroelectric station, etc.
In the case of multipurpose use of the reservoir, each of the participants of the water-
management complex in the design dry year imposes its own requirements on reservoir drawdown.
For coordinating the requirements of various water consumers and users and for conducting tecP
nical and economic calculations, it is necessary to determine what the use of a reservoir
gives each consumer.
Let us examine the effectiveness of drawing down a reservoir for one of the participants
of the water-management complex -- the hydropower industry. Unlike other participants of the
water-management complex, the product being generated by a hydrostation requires from the re-
servoir a volume of water which depends on the position of the water level in it.
For technical and economic calculations it is necessary to plot graphs of the power pro-
duction of a hydrostation as a function of drawdown of the reservoir both during the design
low-flow period and average long-term (normal) value.
The dependence of power production of a hydrostation on the depth of drawdown of a res-
ervoir during the design low-flow period is investigated below. The composition of the struc-
tures of the hydro development, elevation of the normal pool level (NPL), reservoir capacity
curve, curve of the lower pool levels, turbine and electromechanical equipment of the hydro-
station, and graph of inflow to the reservoir are assumed given when conducting the investiga-
tion.
Insofar as drawdown of a reservoir to the same depth for the same inflow to it but with
a different drawdown regime provides the production of a different amount of power, the re-
gime with which drawdown is accomplished is important, especially for low-head and medium-
head hydrostations.
Streamflow regulation for purposes of the power industry in the design low-flow period
requires that the drawdown regime of the reservoir be for power.
The reservoir drawdown regime used in calculations of water-management streamflow regu-
lation with a constant discharge or variable discharge corresponding to the requirements of
the water-management system should be replaced in calculations of power streamflow regulation
by a drawdown regime with a constant power or variable power corresponding to the requirement:
of the power system.
When plotting power production as a function of the depth of drawdown it is necessary,
in addition to indicating the volume of discharge of the investigated period, to indicate for
what drawdown regimes the functional relations under consideration are obtained. In the de-
sign dry year this should be the firm power regime.
Operation of a hydrostation with a filled reservoir without streamflow regulation makes
it possible to provide the minimum possible power. To increase the firm power of a hydrosta-
tion in the low-flow period it is necessary to drawn down the reservoir. The greater the firm
power of the hydrostation required, the greater the drawdown of the reservoir that is requirec
In addition to the characteristics of the upper and lower pools of the hydrostation, the
operating characteristic of the turbine equipment of the hydrostation affects the rate of in-
crease of firm power with depth of drawdown.
The most typical is the situation when with increase of the ultimate depth of drawdown
the efficiency of the turbines gradually increases, reaches a maximum at the certain depth,
and begins to markedly decrease with further increase of the limiting depth of drawdown. The
Translated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel'stvo, No. 12, pp. 5-8, December, 1986.
00].8-8220/86/2012-0673512.50 9 1987 Plenum Publishing Corporation 673
l I /
7~
/
Fig. I. Variants of the mutual arrangement
of power limitation lines.
!
/i i/
I
! }r ! I Ii~:
last circumstance limits the possibility of using the turbines: a turbine capacity limitation
line appears on the operating characteristic of the turbine equipment of the hydrostation.
The intersection of the curve of the firm power of a hydrostation as a function of draw-
down depth with the turbine capacity limitation line determines the maximum drawdown depth
of a reservoir. Since the position of the turbine capaeity limitation llne depends on the
number of turbines, an increase of the number of turbines makes it possible to increase the
maximum drawdown depth and accordingly the firm power of the hydrostation.
As the reservoir is drawn down the head decreases, and to provide the required power
regime the discharge of water passing through the hydrostation should increase, which in turn
causes a rise of the water level in the lower pool and a still greater decrease of the head.
The rate of increase of firm power with drawdown depth gradually slows and reaches a zero
value at a certain distance from the lower pool level.
A further increase in the number of turbines does not lead to an increase of firm power.
This is explained by the circumstance that the increase of discharge through the hydrostation
into the lower pool required for an increase of firm power in the final period of drawdown
does not compensate that decrease of head which occurs due to an increase of the lower pool
level with increase of discharge.
The head at which an increase of discharge through the hydrostation does not entail an
increase of power is determined by the formula
H=Q(az~p/dq). (I)
where Q i s the discharge into the lower pool; ZZp i s the elevation of the lower pool level fo~
discharge Q.
I f the head determined by Eq. (1) is plotted from the curve of the lower pool level for
each discharge, then the curve obtained can be called the "lower-pool capacity limitation
llne." This line is completely determined by the hydraulic conditions of the channel (curve
of the lower pool level) and can be described by the formula
y=Zlp 2CQ(dz-Zp./dQ). (2)
On r e a c h i n g t h i s l i n e i n t h e f i n a l p e r i o d o f r e s e r v o i r drawdowa i n t e r r u p t i o n o f t h e p r e -
s c r i b e d power regime occurs. The limiting depth of drawdown without interruption of the p~e-
scribed power regime cannot be greater than
hz, =z,-y,, (3)
where g, is the elevation of the NPL.
The lower-pool power limitation line, along with the turbine power limitation line, also
can limit the drawdown depth (in certain cases of a sharp-peak load curve of the power system
the generator power limitation line can limit the drawdown depthS.
Variants of the mutual arrangement of the limitation lines are shown graphically in Fig.
i. It shows one lower-pool power limitation line and three variants of the turbine power lim:
ration lines. When the curve of the firm power of the hydrostation as a function of the draw-
down depth is plotted on this graph its intersection with one of the limitation lines will de-
termine the maximum allowable reservoir drawdown depth.
If the turbines installed at the hydrostation are characterized by variant I of the tur-
bine power limitation llne, then this line will limit the maximum drawdown depth. In the cas~
674
#, kW #,th( ,sand
kN
\
~s f6o
Qo
o ~ \ N, m3/
~c
3Og~ _ llllilll
! ..... X N Jwd:ma~ i .
\ k q-go
2~'D[
~"~ I~ fi~,ma G~ Q~ o~ iQo
\\
'~ N dwd 100C
i ! ' \
,o N~,= / ,
o ~oo 2oo ~oo ~oo ~oo ooo 7oo ~oo 9oo woo IO -"~t ?0 I0 "--t ZO:miliion
N, kW sec
b
9 NP~ g" E,kwh vNPL omE Fig. 3. Regime when Q = const.
hdwd
c "d
~firrn:,Eg
%, N, thousand
A\ I t--I'.,' kW
.'r$O ~" u_ ,v~ N. Z008
7"o.! t~--/'-1 pdwM I" ,~.yi'. F~
$Z8 .N N ~ N N NI N0 -Z-7
: ......F----1 , /' E
....... 4---I-~ f 5 ~ z ~
+86
/ ~80 9
~! e / 0 70 t ZO I0 ~ Z0rnilUon
sec
Fig. 2. Firm power and production of a Fig. 4. Regime when N = const.
hydrostation as a function of reservoir
drawdown depth: a) [i], p. 77; b) [2],
p. 316; c) [3], p. 243; d) [4], p. 107;
e) [6], p. 93, for convenience of c o m -
parison the figure is turned through
90~ f) [7], p. 529.
of variant III the lower-pool power limitation line will be the limiting one. And for the mu-
tual a r r a n g e m e n t of the power l i m i t a t i o n lines according to variant II, either of power limit~
tion lines can be the one llmlting the drawdown depth. Line A shows the parts of the two powe
l i m i t a t i o n lines on the length of which one or the other line is the one limiting the drawdowr
depth.
A continuous increase with drawdown depth both of the firm power of the hydrostation and
power production corresponding to it occurs until reaching the drawdown depth determined by
one of these two lines. This position, it would seem, does not require proof: operation with
a certain regime of capacities and the production of an amount of power corresponding to thi~
regime cannot require two different drawdown depths for the same inflow. Nevertheless, many
books and textbooks on water-management and waterpower calculations, hydropower engineering,
hydroelectric s t a t i o n s , and hydropower plants [1-7] give similar graphs of the firm power and
power production as a function of the drawdown depth having a m a x i m u m ~ t a certain depth and
subsequent decrease of power and production with increase of drawdown depth (Fig. 2a-f). Also
given are formulas for the optlmumdrawdown depth corresponding to maximum power production
at the hydrostatlon.
675
.4/, ~ousandkW
~ 0 #88 4## 5a~ f/2 520
0
4 L~"
5 Fig. 5. Maximum drawdown depth as a function
of the regime: I) regime Q = const; 2) re-
,0
r \\ gime N = const.
/2
\
i~ L I ,
This situation contradicting logic is explained by the fact that for simplifying the cal-
culations when investigating the relation under consideration, not the power regime of draw-
down is assumed given but rather the discharge regime (i.e., drawdown with constant discharges
Some textbooks give a separate determination of power production due to reservoir draw-
down and the through-going flow, which, in the author's opinion, is wrong, since power pro-
duction at a hydrostation during drawdown depends not only on the through-going flow and use-
ful capacity of the reservoir but also on the drawdown regime.
Anonpower drawdown regime lea~s not only to inaccuracy of the calculation but also to
distortion of the general notion about the character of the dependence of power production
on drawdown depth. This can be illustrated by the schematic example of drawdown in two vari-
ants: with constant discharges and with constant capacities during the entire drawdown period.
Figure 3 shows the regime Q = constand regimes of the hydrostation capacities corre-
sponding to it N, and Fig. 4 shows the regime N = const and discharge regimes corresponding to
it Q. The c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the operating regimes of the hydrostation in the two variants are
given in Table i, where the subscripts "s" and "e" pertain respectively to the start and end
of the drawdown period.
The results of calculations, given in Fig. 5, show that power production at a hydrosta-
tion on drawing down the reservoir to the same depth in the case of operation with a constant
capacity is greater than in the case of operation with a constant discharge.
The optimal drawdown depth from the viewpoint of power production in the hydrostation
operating regime with a constant discharge coincided with that calculated for the investigated
reservoir by the fozmulas of D. S. Shchevelev aa4 S. N. Kritskii and M. F. Menkel', hop t =
7.27 m.
However, under conditions of a hydrostation operating regime with a constant capacity an
increase of firm power and power production corresponding to it is not limited to this draw-
9 depth and continues, if the limitations imposed by the hydrostation equipment are dis-
regarded, to a drawdown depth of about 16 m, i.e., until the curve of the firm power of the
hydrostation as a function of drawdown depth intersects with the lower-pool power limitation
line (curve 3 in Fig. 5).
The latter regularity has a more general character and pertains not only to the operation
o f a hydrostation with a constant capacity but also to some prescribed power regime.
In the design dry year this will be the regime of obtaining a maximum firm power of the
hydrostation. A description of the firm power of a hydrostation and power production corre-
sponding to it as a function of the drawdown depth should be accompanied by an indication of
the hydrostation power regime for which the functional relation was obtained.
In years with a different volume of discharge the drawdown regime should be constructed
on the basis of two principles, for example, from the principle of obtaining maximum power
production at the hydrostation. The regime of drawdown and filling of the reservoir providing
maximum power production at the hydrostation substantially depends on the form of the "lower-
pool power limitation llne" examined above. In [8] this llne is therefore called the "regime
line."
676
TABLE I
Q = const N = CON
N s, Ne, N
Q. m/ a.m thousand 81ousand thousand tbou.~,~md h,m Qs" mS/ % . rn-V ~, ~ 1
sec kW kW kW kW sec sec sec
2O0O 0 480,0 480,0 480,0 480.0 0 2000 2OOO 20C0
2100 2 502,S 468,7 485.5 488.0 1,62 2O35 2160 2081
22OO 524,5 454.1 489,3 496,0 3,60 2073 2380 2180
23O0 546, 5 436, I 491,3 504,0 5,70 _9108 2660 2285
235O
24G0 I 557,6
568,3
425,6
414.7
491,6
491,5
508,0
512.0
6,90
8,25
2126
2144
2850
3100
2345
2412
10 590,6 390,0 490,.0 516,0 9,75 2162 3420 2488
12 611,S 361,9 .486J 520,0 11,60 2180 3950 o_.580
27OO 14 632,9 330,5 481,7. 524,0 14,00 2198 5C55 27C0
In years of different wetness the drawdown depth can be different, but it cannot be
greater than that determined for the design low-flow period.
Insofar as in individual years the drawdown depth may not reach its maximum value deter-
mined with respect to the design low-flow period, the mean annual power production depends to
a less degree on the maximum drawdown depth-than the firm power of the hydrostation and pro-
ductlon corresponding to it and depends to a greater degree on the drawdown regime.
This is especially exhibited when the regime of discharge through the hydrostatlon into
the lower pool is subordinate to the requirements of other participants of the water-manage-
ment complex. In this case it can turn out that an increase of the drawdown depth leads to
a decrease of power production of the hydrostation, i.e., the descending branch of the curve
of power production as a function of drawdown depth can occur only in the case of forced draw-
down with prescribed discharge regimes not satisfying the power industry.
CONCLUSION
Calculation of the firm power of a hydrostation as a function of the drawdown depth of
the reservoir, giving material for a technical and economic determination of the maximum draw.
down depth, should be carried out for a prescribed power regime in the design dry year. Cal-
culation for a prescribed discharge regime distorts the general notion about the character
of this functional relation. To avoid errors in calculations of the firm capacity and power
production corresponding to it as a function of drawdown depth, it is necessary to take into
account that in the case of streamflow regulation fo r purposes of the power industry a reser-
voir drawdown regime with a constant discharge is contraindicated, which should be indicated
in the pertinent textbooks.
LITERATURE CITED
1. S.N. Nikitin, Methods of Waterpower Calculations [in Russian], Gos~nergoizdat, Moscow-
Leningrad (1949).
2. S.N. Kritskii and M. F. Menkel', Water-Management Calculations [in Russian], Gidromet-
eolzdat, Leningrad (1952).
3. S.N. Nikltin, Principles of Hydropower Calculations [in Russian], Gos~nergoizdat, Mos-
cow-Leningrad (1959).
4. F . F . Gubin (ed.), Hydroelectric Stations [in Russian], Energiya, Moscow (1972).
5. F . F . Gubin and G. I. Krivchenko (ed). Hydroelectric Stations [in Russian], ~nergiya,
Moscow (1980).
6. D . S . Shchavelev (ed.), Hydropower Plants [in Russian], Energolzdat, Leningrad (1981).
7. V . I . Obrezkova, Hydropower [in Russian], Energolzdat, Moscow (1981).
8. P . P . Denisov, Waterpower Streamflow Regulation at Hydroelectric Stations Operating in
Deficit Power Systems [in Russian], MISI, Moscow (1961).
677
