Find in Library

The construction of a dam on a river causes sediments to settle behind the dam. It is important for dam designer to estimate the rate and distribution of sediments in the reservoir in order to decide the dam stability and fix the sill elevations of the outlets and penstock gates. In this study, the accuracy of area-reduction and area-increment methods in estimating sediment distribution in the reservoir of Zayandehrud dam is evaluated. Measurement of sediment at dam reservoir was done in 1988 and 2000. The distribution of sediments in different heights was performed through volume-height and initial height-area curves plus area-increment and area-reduction methods. Comparison of the sediment distribution in the reservoir with these models showed that Borland and Miller area-reduction method was the best and has the least error in this respect. Therefore, this method has been applied to predict the sediment distribution for the years of 2020, 2045 and 2070.