The use of baffle columns to mitigate undesired hydraulic conditions at river intake structures

In practice, the location of riverside water intakes is chosen based on land-property considerations rather than strict design criteria. For power plants intakes, abstraction efficiency is directly affected by the uniformity of flow distribution within the intake structure. The intake structure of South Helwan Power Plant (SHPP) is located downstream a Groin Like Formation (GLF) at the right bank of the Nile River, South Cairo, Egypt. This GLF disrupted the uniformity of flow approaching the intake. In this study, an arrangement of baffle-columns at the upstream and the offshore sides of the intake structure was investigated as a mitigation measure for flow non-uniformity at the intake. A scaled physical model was constructed, and three different configurations of the proposed structure were tested and compared to the base case without the installment of the baffle columns. During these scenarios, the changes in transverse and longitudinal flow velocities were observed. Results demonstrated the effectiveness of the baffle columns in achieving uniform flow conditions. The baffle-columns technique may present a viable solution to resolve non-uniform flow problems at numerous riverside water intakes.