Graduation Date
Fall 2024
Document Type
Project
Program
Master of Science degree with a major in Environmental Systems, option Environmental Resources Engineering
Committee Chair Name
Margaret Lang
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Eileen Cashman
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Pacific Lamprey, Environmental Resources Engineering, Hydraulic Engineering, Fish passage
Subject Categories
Environmental Resources Engineering
Abstract
Few studies have evaluated Pacific Lamprey passage at small-scale barriers such as road crossings. The Hoopa Valley Tribe was awarded a grant with the primary objective of assessing lamprey's ability to traverse small-scale barriers. The Hoopa Valley Tribe collaborated with the Environmental Resources Engineering Department at Cal Poly Humboldt to design and implement a mobile testing facility. The testing facility was then used to identify and simulate experimental treatments that would assess lamprey’s ability to pass conditions that are known or expected to be challenging or outright barriers.
A dump trailer equipped with a hydraulic hoist with the ability to manipulate the trailer bed from a horizontal position to an angle of approximately 45° was used as the base of the testing facility. Flumes and pumps were designed and sized to attach to the trailer and manipulate flow and passage conditions. Pipes and storage tanks were also designed, and potential configurations were identified.
The delivered testing facility was equipped with three aluminum flumes with 15.5 in sidewalls and a 17 in wide bottom. Three gas powered pumps were chosen for the design with a max flowrate of 211 GPM, 98-ft max head, and a max suction lift of 25-ft.
Four experimental treatments were identified for analysis. Two of the treatments consisted of a natural channel bottom and a channel slope of either 0.01 or 0.05. The other two treatments consisted of a concrete bottom and a channel slope of either 0.01 or 0.05. All four treatments included a 1 ft vertical obstacle intended to simulate a perched culvert or a concrete sill of one foot.
A one-dimensional, steady-state hydraulic model was developed for estimation of hydraulic conditions in the testing facility under experimental treatments. Velocities present in the flumes under all experimental treatments except for the treatment with a concrete bottom and a channel slope of 0.05 were below the critical swim speed of Pacific Lamprey of 0.86 m/s (2.82 ft/s). This suggests that the approach to a vertical impediment during the other three treatments should not exhaust the lamprey. Therefore, success or failure to climb an impediment can be attributed more confidently to only the impediments’ physical features. However, the velocity for the treatment with a concrete bottom and a channel slope of 0.05 exceeded 1 m/s (3.28 ft/s) which is the velocity that has been shown to transition Pacific Lamprey from swimming to burst and attach motion. Burst and attach motion is more taxing on the lamprey and, therefore, a failure to climb the wall may not be confidently attributed to the wall’s physical features.
In summary, the experimental treatments identified are intended to provide insight into whether small-scale barriers such as those discussed here are passable by Pacific Lamprey. The results of the hydraulic model are useful in determining the approach conditions that would be experienced by the lamprey under experimental treatments. The approach conditions provide valuable insight into why a passage attempt was a success or failure.
Citation Style
ASCE
Recommended Citation
Silva, Ernesto, "Design of a Mobile Lamprey Testing Facility and Analysis of Hydraulic Conditions Under Experimental Treatments" (2024). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 810.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/810