Reclamation Home

Reclamation Offices

Newsroom

Library

Projects & Facilities

Programs & Activities

Water Operations

Technical Service Center

Selected Recent Accomplishments

• Western Water and Power Solution Bulletins (Fact Sheets)

• No. 1, June 2007 Flow Deflectors to Prevent Stilling Basin Abrasion Damage
• No. 5, July 2007 Flow Calculator Simplifies Use of Sharp-Crested Weirs for Accurate Measurement of Water Deliveries
• No. 6, June 2007 WinFlume Simplifies Open-Channel Flow Measurement
• No. 9, May 2008 Coanda-Effect Overflow Screens Reduce Maintenance Costs
• No. 10, May 2008 Fish Passage for Non-Salmonids

• Issued Dam Safety Office research report on predicting Uplift and Crack Flow Resulting from High Velocity Discharges Over Open Offset Joints.

• Initiated model testing for the Folsom Dam - Joint Federal Project (New: see video overview) - This is the largest single hydraulic model ever built and operated in our laboratory. It includes existing service spillway and emergency spillway gates, plus a new auxiliary spillway and outlet facility. These features are designed to improve flood protection for the Sacramento area and improve the safety of Folsom Dam.

• Publication in April 2007 of the technical report, “Temperature Modeling of Folsom Lake, Lake Natoma, and the Lower American River,” prepared by the Bureau of Reclamation, Technical Service Center, coauthored by Merlynn D. Bender, Joseph P. Kubitschek, and Tracy B. Vermeyen. The report summarizes four mathematical models and the evaluation of actions that may improve transport of cold water through Lake Natoma and may reduce the temperature of the lower American River to potentially improve biological resources, primarily anadromous salmonid fish.

• Co-sponsored the 2007 Hydraulic Measurements and Experimental Methods (HMEM) conference held at Lake Placid, New York. Six papers were presented by WRRL staff members:
  1. Software for Discharge Calibration of Canal Radial Gates, PAP-964, Tony L. Wahl
  2. Comparing Apples and Oranges: Teledyne/RDI StreamPro ADCP and the OTT QLiner River Discharge Measurement System, PAP-965, K. Warren Frizell and Tracy B. Vermeyen
  3. Measuring Point Velocities and Near-Bed Turbulence Parameters with an Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter in Environmental River Studies, PAP-966, Connie DeMoyer and Tracy Vermeyen
  4. Using Bluetooth Radios to Communicate with Acoustic Instruments, PAP-967, Tracy B. Vermeyen
  5. Measuring Air Entrainment and Flow Bulking in Skimming Flow over Steeply Sloping Stepped Chutes, PAP-968, Ines Meireles, Jorge Matos and Kathy Frizell
  6. Developing a Combined Air Concentration and Velocity Probe for Measuring in Air-Water Jets, PAP-969, Pereira, N. H. C., Borges, J. E., Matos, J., and Kathy Frizell

Last reviewed: 01/04/10