Influence of structure on hydraulic characteristics of T shape fishway

While dams cut off the migratory route of fish, and affect their growth and breeding, fishways are built to restore the connectivity of rivers and facilitate the life cycle of these migratory fish. This paper proposes a new kind of fishway called the “T shape fishway”, and studies it by using both numerical simulations and physical experimental methods with the aim to design a fishway in China for migratory fish with swimming and jumping capability much poorer, such as schizothorax davidi and schizothorax prenanti, as compared with migratory fish in other places of the world, like trout and salmon. It is indicated that the range of velocity in each regular pool of the T shape fishway is from 0.42 m/s to 1.22 m/s when the flow discharge Q is 350 L/s, and there are no large vortex zones found there. This study shows that the T shape fishway can meet the requirements of these migratory fish quite well in terms of velocity and flow patterns in China.