The river crossing structures is installed for flood control and water utilization. However, the installations of these structures caused the interruption of the passage of ecological river and exterminate the life of a river. On the other hand, it ha...
The river crossing structures is installed for flood control and water utilization. However, the installations of these structures caused the interruption of the passage of ecological river and exterminate the life of a river. On the other hand, it has been represented that the scour at the downstream and complex flow pattern due to the installation of river crossing structures is beneficial for the ecological aspect. Therefore, the eco-friendly design process and method for the structure of river crossing have been proposed to minimize the structural damage and to maximize the positive environmental formation. However, an improve stream habitat has been limited to only the analysis of flow pattern around the installed structures and the systematic detailed results have not been suggested yet.
In this study, the assessment of ecological habitat improvement due to the scour downstream the river crossing structure was performed. The natural drop structures with the low drop height which can make target fish jump across a river was selected for the river crossing structure in this study based on the information and researches proposed in the domestic and abroad. Also, the log drop structure was selected considering more nature-friendly material and easy acquisition.
The hydraulic experiments were conducted to understand scour pattern and depth with different apex angles and various lateral slopes of the drop structure. In addition, the experimental result was compared with existing formulas for scour depth downstream of the drop structure and then the suitability of the experimental results and difference with other proposed equations were analyzed. As a result, scour depths of plane type drop structure with various apex angles were similar to the calculation results of existing equations. However, scour depths from experiments with various lateral slope changes caused concentrated flow in the middle and produced more effect on the scour. Finally, the generalized equations to estimate scour depth and length were proposed in this study with respect to the angle of apex and lateral slope of the low drop structures.
The physical habitat simulated was conducted using geometric data acquired from the experiment results. The changes of habitat suitability index (HSI) and difference of weighted usable area (WUA) were analyzed with different drop structure types. The Z. platypus was selected as the target fish inhabited in most domestic rivers. More habitat effect was improved in the downstream bed of the drop structure with scour than without scour. Especially, the most suitable type of the low drop structure was the apex angle 140°°and the upper V type. Also, it was concluded that the lateral slope 7 % of the straight drop structure and the lateral slope 3 % of the upper V type drop structure were relatively profitable for the habitat environment of Z. platypus in the river. The verification test was performed in the real size channel to validate the results of laboratory experiments and the validation satisfied the outcomes of the laboratory tests. The results of the study represents that the nature-friendly drop structure, which has the effects of natural fish both the objectives for fluvial environment improvement and river bed stability when the grade control structures are necessary in the natural fishway and the small stream. Also, it can be applied on various hydraulic structures in the channel such as spur dike.