Hydraulic Structures and Equipment

Program Lead: Warren Frizell, 303-445-2145

The Hydraulic Investigations and Laboratory Services Group has a long tradition of solving hydraulic problems related to the operation and maintenance of hydraulic structures and equipment. Through the use of scale model tests, prototype field studies, and applied research, operations of new and existing projects can be evaluated and optimized. In addition, maintenance costs and frequency can be reduced through similar means.

Laboratory facilities, sophisticated instrumentation and data acquisition equipment, and experience provide for cost effective and timely solutions to a variety of operational and maintenance problems with:

hydraulic structures of all kinds
stilling basins
pumps
turbines
gates
valves
pipelines
canals

	Discharge from a 60-inch clamshell gate installed on the Salt River Siphon. The gate is used for evacuation, and can operate with both free and submergeed discharges equally well.
A 1:60 scale hydraulic model of the tunnel spillway at Hoover Dam for investigation of cavitation damage preventing air slots.
	A draft tube vortex in a 8-inch model turbine of the Grand Coulee 700 MW units.

A working scale model was used to assist local government in solving a difficult problem. Studies using this model of the Union Avenue Boat Chute on the South Platte River in Denver eliminated danger to boaters from the "keeper roller" downstream from the diversion structure.

Hydraulic Structures and Equipment

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