- To recognize aspects of hydropower facilities requiring hydrotechnical design such as intake, penstock, power tunnels, gates, manifolds, etc.;
- To characterize hydrotechnical features, determine forces, and design implications;
- To alert against common mistakes in hydrotechnical design for hydropower; and
- To introduce simple computational aids, apply open-source software, and offer a collection of literature and educational videos.
- Hands-on class exercises and educational video clips;
- Discussing common mistakes referring to case studies;
- Computational aids;
- A vast amount of literature in softcopy; and
- Guest presenters from the industry.
- Some key concepts (energy and power, head, run-of-river, pumped storage, etc.)
- Overview of reference literature, videos, and software
- Introduction to hydrology and hydraulics
- Energy analysis for hydropower projects
- The functions of major components of hydropower facilities
- Design of general layout
- Hydrotechnical design criteria
- Design of river diversion
- Dams: special consideration for hydropower purposes
- Design of intakes
- Arrangements
- Gates and trashracks
- Ice, log, and trash booms
- Vortices and air-entrainment
- Sediment impact and control
- Freeboard computation (wind, wave, open channel surge, etc.)
- Design of penstocks
- Design of power tunnels
- Design of spillways
- Design of fish ways and protection
- Design of surge control systems
- Powerhouse hydrotechnical matters
- Turbines
- Valves and by-pass systems
- Manifold
- Tail-tunnel and tailrace
- Pumped-storage projects
- Modelling of hydropower facilities
- Scale modeling
- CFD analyses
- Discussing a few case studies (guest presenters from the industry)
- Common design mistakes
- Examples of major failure in hydropower facilities
- A comprehensive problem based on a case study
- Five take-away messages and common mistakes
Professionals and civil, mechanical, environmental, geotechnical, and water resources engineers from engineering firms, owners (IPP’s), and provincial and federal authorities (BC Hydro, FortisBC, etc.) with 0–20 years of experience dealing with hydropower facilities.
Senior Hydrotechnical Consultant (US and Canada)
Dr. Saied Saiedi, P.Eng., is a civil engineer with 32 years of engineering and academic experience in Iran, Australia, Malaysia, Canada, and USA. His hydrotechnical interests cover a wide range: free surface flow (hydraulic structures, hydropower plants, sediment transport, river engineering), coastal structures and processes, floating offshore structures, flood studies, and dam safety review. He has developed, managed, and reviewed several numerical and physical modelling works.
Dr. Saiedi designed and oversaw the construction of a flume for river and wave studies at Water Research Laboratory (UNSW, Sydney, Australia) in 1991–1992. The facility has been since used for many projects involving riverine flows and coastal waves. He also developed a numerical model for alluvial flows called COUPFLEX (see ASCE Journal of Hydraulics, May 1997). The model was one of the first efforts in computational modelling of sediment-laden flows in ‘fully coupled’ mode, followed by several modellers later.
For several years in the 2000’s, Dr. Saiedi served NAHRIM (National Association of Hydraulic Research in Malaysia) as the senior adviser for coastal engineering projects. Also, while working for PETRONAS (Malaysian national oil and gas company), he trained several groups of engineers from various engineering disciplines to enter the realm of offshore engineering through 5 applied courses. In 2006–2008, Dr. Saiedi conceptually designed and oversaw the construction of a large wave flume and a large wave basin at UTP (PETRONAS’ university) for applied research projects in the areas of coastal and offshore engineering.
While working in Canada and the US, Dr. Saiedi has led or participated in design and investigations for many hydropower plants (HPP) and dam facilities in Canada and overseas. Sample projects include: Site C Dam (BC, Canada), I1K Power Transmission Line (Saskatchewan, Canada), Kemano Hydropower Plant (BC, Canada), Tapoco HPP Scheme (USA), Karcham-Wangtoo & Vishnuprayag & Baspa–II HPP’s (India), Boron Mining Operations (CA, USA), Kokish River HPP (BC, Canada), John Hart Gen. Station Replacement Project (BC, Canada), Skaha Lake & McIntyre Dams (BC, Canada), Waneta Dam (BC, Canada), Brilliant Dam (BC, Canada), Similkameen Dam (BC, Canada), Seymour Dam, East Toba & Montrose HPP’s (BC, Canada), Stave Falls HPP (BC, Canada), and Nimisila Reservoir and Dam (OH, USA).
With his concurrent academic experience over the years as an Associate Professor in Civil Engineering, Dr. Saiedi has shared his vast hydrotechnical experience with professional engineers in Canada (BC) and USA (MI, NY, NJ) through short courses. He was the Director of Progress International Consultants (Vancouver), Hydrotechnical Discipline Lead (Western North America) of Hatch based in Vancouver, and Technical Adviser (Canada) to ATB Riva Calzoni, an international provider of hydromechanical equipment for hydropower dams. While working as a consultant (with Bergmann Associates, Tetra Tech, etc.) in the US, Dr. Saiedi has led since early 2017 the hydrotechnical investigations for the design of the Gordie Howe International Bridge across Detroit River, projects on dam safety review, and protection of coastal structures (Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Florida).