Exploring the Role of Shear Stress and Severe Turbulence in Downstream Fish Passage

Fish may be exposed to damaging levels of fluid shear stress and turbulence while passing through hydroelectric power plants. The generally assumed locations for such potential damage are the turbine and draft tube passages, although it is possible that fish are also injured during passage over the spillway or through sluiceways and fish bypass outfalls. Unless mitigated, fluid-induced injuries and mortality could frustrate efforts to develop advanced, "fish-friendly" turbines or to provide safe alternate downstream passages. The effects of shear stress and turbulence on fish are poorly understood, in part because of the difficulties in conceptualizing these phenomena, determining their magnitudes and distribution within hydroelectric systems, and then recreating them in a controlled laboratory environment. We define the fluid phenomena that are relevant to the assessment of effects on fish. The magnitudes of fluid stresses associate with man-altered aquatic environments are often considerably higher than those found in natural environments (e.g., normal river flows). However, levels of shear stresses that occur during flash floods appear to be comparable to those expected within a turbine. Past studies of the effects of shear stress on fish are of limited value, mainly because of their narrow scope and lack of instrumentation to measure velocities on appropriately small scales. A laboratory experiment to study the effects of shear stress and turbulence on fish is described.