Advancing the Field of River Ice Engineering Using Ice Processes Research

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The overarching goal of this research program is to advance the current state of knowledge of river ice processes (including river ice formation, growth, evolution and break-up) to support the field of river ice engineering. River ice has significant social and economic consequences such as overland flooding, water supply blockages and lost revenue at northern hydroelectric generating stations that cost the Canadian economy millions of dollars annually. Knowledge gained from this program and the accompanying improvements to numerical modeling of river ice processes will assist the hydroelectric industry, flood forecasters and various other stakeholders with mitigating these costs. A combination of field measurements, carefully controlled laboratory studies and numerical modeling will be used to accomplish this objective. A total of seven highly qualified personnel will receive training within this program. Phase 1 of this program involves creating a river ice monitoring network using two rivers to serve as a model for other rivers in cold climates, and will provide a comprehensive data set to the ice engineering community through peer-reviewed journals and by providing access to an ftp site containing raw data. River ice processes will be monitored for five seasons using water level gauges, time lapse infrared cameras, aerial observations, as well as measurements of water velocity and suspended sediment concentration. Phase 2 will investigate the complex turbulent flow conditions in a partially ice-covered channel. Well controlled laboratory testing will be used to investigate effects of variables such as channel aspect ratio, relative roughness of the channel bed and ice, as well as riverbank geometry. This study will be the first of its kind, and the results are anticipated to assist with improving border ice growth equations and hydraulic modeling of partially ice-covered channels. The final phase of this program is intended to incorporate results from the first two phases into the CRISSP2D numerical model, thereby providing a tangible deliverable to the wider ice engineering community.