Hydropower plants interrupt the longitudinal connectivity in river networks, which hinders fish migration and puts downstream migrating fish passing through turbines or over weirs and spillways at risk to sustain considerable injuries or mortalities. Among other factors, this has led to a decline in fish stocks in recent years. For certain fish species horizontal or vertical bar rack - bypass systems are effective fish guiding structures that mitigate such effects. This project aims at increasing the fish guiding efficiency of such systems for poorly guided fish species like eel and brown trout by adding a low-voltage electric field. To reach this goal, various voltages and arrangements of electrodes will be numerically investigated, and the optimized electrified rack configurations will be tested in etho-hydraulic experiments. Fish behavior under electric fields created by the racks will be quantified using a video fish tracking system. Finally, recommendations will be given for optimal design of electrified racks.
