CHEN Jian-guo 1, ZHOU Wen-hao 2, HAN Shan-shan 1

1. International Research and Training Center on Erosion and Sedimentation, Beijing 100048, China;
2. China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100048, China

Abstract: The Sanmenxia Reservoir was impounded in September 1960. Base on the field measured data from the reservoir, the mechanism of channel formation, the behaviors of transport for the coarse and fine sediment are depicted. During the past decades of operation, there were three times of integrated retrogressive erosion happened in the reservoir. It is found that although the retrogressive erosion can regain some parts of silted volume of the reservoir, but it would seriously aggravate the deposition in the Lower Yellow River. However, if the reservoir operation mode is improved and the collocation of the flow and sediment load released from the reservoir is reasonable, the deposition both in the reservoir and the Lower Yellow River would be mitigated. This is a quite important principle for planning the operation mode of the new-large reservoir, the Xiaolangdi Reservoir, in the future.

Key words: operation mode of future reservoir; patterns of reservoir deposition or erosion; retaining the course sediment and sluicing the fine by reservoir; retrogressive erosion; river sedimentation

Published in: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, Vol. 45, No. 10, 2014