• Journal of Korea Water Resources Association
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• v.41 no.12
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• pp.1219-1230
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• 2008

Stream inflows induced by flood runoffs have a higher density than the ambient reservoir water because of a lower water temperature and elevated suspended sediment(SS) concentration. As the propagation of density currents that formed by density difference between inflow and ambient water affects reservoir water quality and ecosystem, an understanding of reservoir density current is essential for an optimization of filed monitoring, analysis and forecast of SS and nutrient transport, and their proper management and control. This study was aimed to quantify the characteristics of inflow density current including plunge depth($d_p$) and distance($X_p$), separation depth($d_s$), interflow thickness($h_i$), arrival time to dam($t_a$), reduction ratio(${\beta}$) of SS contained stream inflow for different flood magnitude in Daecheong Reservoir with a validated two-dimensional(2D) numerical model. 10 different flood scenarios corresponding to inflow densimetric Froude number($Fr_i$) range from 0.920 to 9.205 were set up based on the hydrograph obtained from June 13 to July 3, 2004. A fully developed stratification condition was assumed as an initial water temperature profile. Higher $Fr_i$(inertia-to-buoyancy ratio) resulted in a greater $d_p,\;X_p,\;d_s,\;h_i$, and faster propagation of interflow, while the effect of reservoir geometry on these characteristics was significant. The Hebbert equation that estimates $d_p$ assuming steady-state flow condition with triangular cross section substantially over-estimated the $d_p$ because it does not consider the spatial variation of reservoir geometry and water surface changes during flood events. The ${\beta}$ values between inflow and dam sites were decreased as $Fr_i$ increased, but reversed after $Fr_i$>9.0 because of turbulent mixing effect. The results provides a practical and effective prediction measures for reservoir operators to first capture the behavior of turbidity inflow.