The Rhine on a scale of 1:50 - University of Kassel puts model power plant into operation

The model has a floor area of around 100 square meters, roughly the size of a four-room apartment. It includes a model of the Rheinfelden power plant on the border with Switzerland as well as the 400 meters of the Rhine in front of it - with a detailed course of the banks and an exact image of the riverbed. The power plant itself is also faithfully reproduced with all flow-relevant components - turbines, powerhouse, piers, etc. - so that an exact simulation of the flows is possible according to the so-called Froude law, an important principle in hydrodynamics. Various measuring instruments and shut-off devices are installed to measure and control flows, to record water levels, flow velocities and sediment transport. For the investigations, up to 250 liters of water per second run through the model, which corresponds to a Rhine discharge of about 4400 cubic meters per second.

Together with the project partner and operator of the Rheinfelden power plant, Energiedienst Holding AG, the Kassel team led by Prof. Dr.-Ing Stephan Theobald is investigating flow conditions and simulating possible improvements for the original power plant on the Rhine, for example in optimizing the inflow or bedload discharge. "The strength of this model lies in the fact that the passage of real water makes the conditions very vivid and we can thus map flow conditions very accurately and reliably," describes Theobald. "On this basis, we can derive structural and operational measures for energy optimization." Concrete results for the Rheinfelden plant should be available by the end of 2017. 

After completion of the project, the model will be available to the department for teaching and basic research. The Kassel-based research group focuses on the operation of hydraulic engineering facilities and the interaction with flow-mechanical processes in rivers, studying, for example, the discharge distribution of inflowing water through the weir control of hydropower plants, reservoir management and ecological improvement measures. "In addition to mapping flow processes, the model also offers the possibility to realize project and research projects for morphological issues, i.e. the interaction between flow processes and sediment transport," says Theobald. In combination with nature studies, the physical model also serves to improve numerical methods to enable better simulations. For this purpose, small-scale three-dimensional hydrodynamic-numerical (3D-HN) simulation methods are used in parallel. These computer models thereby enable a fast, flexible and cost-effective variant study for the development of a design variant, which can subsequently be validated and further improved in the physical model.

All this indirectly makes an important contribution to a reliable and sustainable energy supply in Germany, but also worldwide. "Hydropower is by far the most important renewable energy source, accounting for around 16.6 percent of global electricity generation," says Theobald. "If we build future plants optimally and at the same time expand existing plants in such a way that untapped potential is exploited, we can further increase hydropower's contribution to a sustainable, reliable and climate-friendly energy supply."

Photos:

http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/fileadmin/datas/uni/presse/anhaenge/2016/Rheinfeld.jpg

Caption: Incident flow on the physical model of the Rheinfelden power plant. Photo: University of Kassel, Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management.

http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/fileadmin/datas/uni/presse/anhaenge/2016/Rheinfeld2.JPG

Caption: Physical model of the Rheinfelden power plant from the front. Photo: University of Kassel

Video impressions at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ebdibqGDmY

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Stephan Theobald
University of Kassel
Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Management
Preferably by e-mail: s.theobald[at]uni-kassel[dot]de
Tel.: +49 561 804-2679