Numerical modeling of sediment transport in water reservoirs

The project will develop a three-dimensional computer model that can simulate the flushing of sand and silt from water reservoirs. The accumulation of sediments in reservoirs is large problem worldwide, reducing agricultural production in developing count ries and hydro power as a clean renewable emission-free energy source. The project will collect field data from existing reservoir to find shortcomings of our current numerical model. We will cooperate with the Technical University of Graz, where they hav e considerable data and on-going projects on field and laboratory data collection. Given the challenges of the complex reservoir flushing processes, it will be necessary to develop new parts for the model, including improved free surface algorithms. The results will be published on international conferences and in international journals with peer-review. Also, web pages with results from the project will be made.