EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE DISCHARGE CHARACTERISTICS OF SLUICE FOR TIDAL POWER PLANT

The discharge characteristics of sluice caisson for tidal power plant were investigated by carrying out a physical experiment in a planar open channel. The experiment was performed by installing 10 sluice models whose scale was 1/70 of the prototype in the planar open channel, where apron sections were made in front of and behind the sluice models to reproduce the field condition. The locations and method of measuring water levels were carefully determined so as to accurately estimate the discharge coefficient, an index of representing the discharge performance of the sluice caisson. The experimental results for various conditions of flow rates and water levels showed that the discharge coefficient of the sluice caisson was in the range of 1.3 to 1.47. These values were substantially smaller than those obtained from the previous study performed in a two-dimensional open channel (Lee et al., 2010). As the previous study had some limitations in reproducing the bathymetric and flow conditions in the field, it is more recommended to use the results acquired in the present experiment.