Numerical Modeling of Turbid Density Current in Dez Reservoir

In Iran, Dez dam has suffered from long flood-induced high turbidity currents. A major problem of this dam is sedimentation that has now blocked the irrigation gates. Mean annual sediment deposition in the reservoir is about 15 million tons. The level of deposited sediment is very close to the intake of power stations. The elevation of sediment deposition has now reached to nearly 14 meters under the intakes of power stations (Research center of power Ministry, 2003). In this study, a high resolution 3-D numerical model is employed based on nonhydrostatic Navier-Stokes equations, to investigate the dynamics of density flows resulting from the complicated reservoir morphometry.