A solution to flush sediment by penstocks in main stream, applying for groundwater dams in the Northwest Vietnam

Abstract

To meet the water demand for the Northwest area, the groundwater is an effective solution. Even though the sedimentation has been well considered during the design process, this issue has not been effectively solved in reality. It has strong effects on groundwater dams operation, especially for small and moderate dams. By analysing the drawbacks of the current design and management procedure of groundwater dams, we introduce a new method of using penstocks in main stream, present the procedures to determine and calculate the effective load and amount of sediments, and then propose the structure of penstock system.