Influence of Hydropower Outflow Characteristics on Riverbank Stability: Case of the Lower Osage River (Missouri, USA)

Abstract

This research examined the influences of outflow characteristics affecting riverbank stability. The 130-km stretch of the Lower Osage River downstream from Bagnell Dam (Missouri, USA) provided an excellent case study for this purpose. The integrated BSTEM model with the HEC-RAS model was accurately calibrated and validated with data from the US Geological Survey. Then, the outflow characteristics (peak flow duration, flow drawdown rate, and low flow duration) were investigated individually. The results of this study showed that: (1) riverbank stability is little affected by the duration time of the peak flow, especially on the reaches far from the dam; (2) sudden flow drawdown significantly reduces riverbank stability; however, the impact of the drawdown rate decreases with distance from the dam; and (3) the duration of the low flow after peak flow influences the riverbank stability value proportional to the distance from the dam. The time of low flow before failure increases as the distance from the dam increases.

Department(s)

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering

Keywords and Phrases

BSTEM; flow drawdown; HEC-RAS; low flow duration; peak flow; riverbank stability

Geographic Coverage

Missouri

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0262-6667; 2150-3435

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2020 International Association of Hydrological Sciences, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

26 Jul 2020

Link to Full Text

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