Real-time monitoring of suspended sediment concentration and particle sizedistribution in the headwater way of a high-head hydropower plant

摘要

A suspended sediment monitoring campaign is described to investigate the trigger mechanism for accelerated turbine abrasion encountered at a hydropower plant in the Austrian Alps. Both an optical backscatter turbidimeter and a novel laser diffraction sensor were used to continuously monitor suspended sediment concentra-tion. Both instruments were calibrated using laboratory results from pumped water samples. Particle size distributions were determined in real-time by the laser sensor. The results of these different methods for concentration and particle size measure-ments are compared, and total sediment load is derived. Together with frequent tur-bine wear measurements, the sediment data including mineralogical features allow for an analytical description of the abrasion process of the runner buckets by ac-counting for quartz mineral content and particle shape and size.