CGU HS Committee on River Ice Processes and the Environment 13th Workshop on the Hydraulics of Ice Covered Rivers

• Main Authors: Chris Katopodis, Haitham Ghamry
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Athabasca River; Bitumount; Canada
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.617.3239; http://cripe.civil.ualberta.ca/downloads/13th_workshop/katopodis-ghamry-2005.pdf

ABSTRACT: Hydrodynamic simulation in rivers with ice-covered conditions provides opportunities for flow management and environmental concerns to be addressed in more scientifically defensible ways. Water is needed for oilsand developments in the lower Athabasca River Basin of northern Alberta, Canada, while at the same time water is a key consideration from an ecological perspective, particularly in the winter when river flows are at their lowest. Industry and government efforts are underway to establish appropriate flow management regimes for the lower Athabasca. Part of these efforts included the revision of the River2D finite element model, available at www.river2d.ca, to predict hydraulics with a partial or total ice-cover. Hydrometric surveys from three reaches of the Athabasca River were used to calibrate and test the model for ice-covered conditions. Calibration and simulation results from the reaches at Fort McKay below Peter Lougheed Bridge, Bitumount (Study Reach 4), and Northlands (Study Reach 5) are presented and compared. Computed values for depth, velocity, Froude number, and roughness profiles along the thalweg for the three reaches are assessed. It was found that the Froude numbers are fairly low and comparable over most of the areas for the three river reaches. The depth, velocity values and trends are also comparable for the three reaches.