Musandji Fuamba

• P. Eng. PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Polytechnique Montréal

This study assesses the potential impact of climate change on hydropower generation, focusing on the Grand Inga hydropower project on the Congo River in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Utilizing a multi-input approach with a conceptual HEC-HMS hydrologic model, this research incorporates a new bias-corrected high-resolution daily downscaled datas...

The Congo River Basin is the second-largest watershed globally, flowing through nine countries before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. The Kasai River Basin (KARB), containing about one-fourth of Congo’s freshwater resources, plays a strategic role in sustaining navigation, food production, and hydroelectricity generation in Central Africa. This study...

Results suggest that the Grand Inga project will be resilient to negative climate impacts during its initial phases (1-5). The system demonstrates security and insensitivity to adverse changes, both for existing (Phase 1-2) and planned (Phase 3-5) hydropower components. The study indicates that climate change effects become apparent only in later p...

This study assesses the impact of climate change on streamflow characteristics in the Lualaba River Basin (LRB), an important yet ungauged watershed in the Congo River Basin. Two conceptual hydrological models, HBV-MTL and GR4J, were calibrated using the reanalysis datasets and outputs of Generalized Circulation Models (GCMs) under CMIP6 during the...

The Congo River Basin is the second-largest watershed globally, flowing through nine countries before reaching the Atlantic Ocean. The Kasai River Basin (KARB), containing about one-fourth of Congo’s freshwater resources, plays a strategic role in sustaining navigation, food production, and hydroelectricity generation in Central Africa. A multi-mod...

In regions characterized by continuous permafrost, hydrological modeling remains a complex activity, primarily due to constraints related to the prevailing climatic conditions and the specific behavior of the active layer. High-latitude regions receive less solar radiation; thus, most creeks are active only during summertime and stay frozen in the...

The present paper proposes an iterative implicit numerical method for simulating the thaw depth of permafrost soil. For this purpose, the enthalpy-porosity model was used for the phase change process, and the finite difference scheme FTCS (Forward Time Centered Space) was used for discretization. An artificial mushy zone was maintained with the sam...

Rating curves are used to estimate the discharge in rivers, especially in the Congo River. However, the rating curves used for the Congo River, established since 1959, are inadequate because of the changes recurrently occurring in the morphology of the river. The streamflow processes are complex and highly nonlinear and are a result of combination...

The electricity deficit in Africa causes hundreds of thousands of deaths each year, interferes with the functioning of hospitals and emergency services; compromises educational goals and increases the cost of doing business. This deficit can be filled by the immense hydroelectric potential, a large part of which, estimated at more than 40,000 MW i...

Les modèles hydrologiques constituent des outils d’une importance capitale dans la gestion des ressources en eau. Ils permettent de transformer des séries décrivant le climat sur un bassin versant (typiquement des séries de précipitations et de températures) en séries de débits simulés. Cependant, la performance de ces modèles est grandement tribut...

Renewable energy is environmental friendly and constitutes a sustainable alternative for power supply. The power sector in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) faces major challenges, including low generation capacity, inefficient institutions, and low electricity access. The DRC total hydropower potential over of 100 Gigawatts (GW) the third largest...

Climate change and its effects on the hydrologic regime of the Congo River Basin can impact several vital sectors in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) including hydropower generation. Given the important role of hydropower in peak electricity management, DRC is actively pursuing development of more hydropower resources by construction of large dam...

This paper studies the air pressurization problem caused by a partially pressurized transient flow in a reservoir-pipe system. The purpose of this study is to analyze the performance of the rigid column model in predicting the attenuation of the air pressure distribution. In this regard, an analytic formula for the amplitude and frequency will be d...

The Low Impact Development (LID) Control module is utilized in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Stormwater Management Model (USEPA SWMM) to predict the hydraulic performance of a variety of sustainable stormwater technologies. Data collected in 2019 from the monitoring of a pilot project in Montreal was used to verify the ability...

This paper studies the ability of a Shock-Fitting approach in computing air pocket entrapments in a closed conduit transient flow, caused by suddenly blocking the downstream end. The flow is pressurized at the upstream, which detaches from the wall somewhere at the downstream after which a free surface flow develops. In this Shock-Fitting approach...

The pressure surge prediction in a closed conduit partially pressurized transient flow has been investigated following suddenly blocking the pipe downstream end. In a shock-fitting approach, the rigid column model as well as the Saint-Venant equations set and the ideal gas law for air pocket variations were used for the computations. The aim was to...

Due climatic variability and anthropogenic changes, floods have been raised in several regions worldwide. The resulting impact from floods is often harmful. This can be applied to DR. Congo, the country which is known by wet climatic conditions, and it became lately a typical region for such natural hazard. Hence, floods are observed as a yearly di...

In the original paper, the authors estimated seasonal frost penetration in pavements with multiple layers at three different sites in Iowa. Pavement temperature sensors were installed at each site, and the monitoring took place from 2013 to 2016. The type of pavement differed from one site to another; the first site (Expo-1) was made of hot-mix asp...

This paper emphasizes the importance of integrating outlet discharge and observed internal variables in the evaluation of distributed hydrological models outputs. It proposes a general methodology for a diagnostic evaluation of a complex distributed hydrological model, based on discharge data at the outlet and additional distributed information suc...

Information regarding the spatial extent and timing of flooding in the world's major wetlands is important to a wide range of research questions including global methane models, water management, and biodiversity assessments. The Pool Malebo is one of the 33 wetlands Ramsar's priority areas in the DRC, and is subject to substantial development and...

2D non-uniform polygonal meshes allow representation of the impact of landscape elements and small infrastructures on water flows. The initial vectorial mesh, derived from the intersection of several geographical information systems f layers, can have highly non-convex or sliver polygons. These bad-shaped elements compromise accurate numerical flow...

In this study, panel linear models were used to develop an empirical relationship between metered household water use and the independent variables plot size and theoretical irrigation requirement. The estimated statistical model provides a means of estimating the climate-sensitive component of residential water use. Ensemble averages of temperatur...

Although derived from the principles of conservation of mass and momentum, the water-hammer equations integrating dynamic friction are almost never expressed in conservative form. This is because the pressure and volume discharge are used as variables but these are not conserved quantities, especially when the one-dimensional velocity profile is di...

When a large reservoir is fed by many tributaries, the measurement of reservoir inflow is a difficult task. For a hydroelectric reservoir, the estimation of natural inflow is required to optimize hydropower production without compromising environmental and infrastructure safety. This can be accomplished using the water balance equation (WBE). An im...

Projection of floodplain extents is extremely important in identifying solutions that will establish the controls of land use in flood-loss reduction studies. The Riviere des Prairies, located in the province of Quebec, Canada, has many rapids that make the river basin highly vulnerable to potential flood loss. The aim of this study was to evaluate...

Implementing best management practices (BMP) on watersheds could help mitigate the effects of urbanization and climate change on the hydrological cycle. Techniques such as retention ponds, rain gardens, infiltration trenches, and green roofs vary in technical performance, space requirements, and cost. The trade-offs between these present a challeng...

The selection of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) for mitigating the effects of urbanization on the hydrological cycle could be a complex process due to conflicting stakeholder views, and varying levels of performance of BMPs across a range of criteria (runoff reduction, erosion control, etc.). Part 1 of this article proposed a methodolo...

The implementation of stormwater Best Management Practices (BMPs) could help re-establish the natural hydrological cycle of watersheds after urbanization, with each BMP presenting a different performance across a range of criteria (flood prevention, pollutant removal, etc.). Additionally, conflicting views from the relevant stakeholders may arise,...

The purpose of this study is to develop an optimization model for the selection and placement of best management practice (BMP) at the watershed level in order to control water quantity and quality. Linear programming (LP) was selected from among several mathematical optimization methods, with the objective function being to minimize the total cost...

Southern Africa is likely to experience higher evapotranspiration and altered rainfall characteristics due to global warming and climate change. Climate-driven water use may potentially stress water supply facilities due to increased demand and reduced surface water yield. This paper presents a conceptual theoretical framework for assessing impacts...

Southern Africa is likely to experience higher evapotranspiration and altered rainfall characteristics due to global warming and climate change. Climate-driven water use may potentially stress water supply facilities due to increased demand and reduced surface water yield. This paper presents a conceptual theoretical framework for assessing impacts...

In the event of an instantaneous valve closure, the pressure transmitted to a surge tank induces the mass fluctuations that can cause high amplitude of water-level fluctuation in the surge tank for a reasonable cross-sectional area. The height of the surge tank is then designed using this high water level mark generated by the completely closed pen...

Water Distribution Systems (WDSs) design and operation are usually done on a case-by-case basis. Numerous models have been proposed in the literature to solve specific problems in this field. The implementation of these models to any real-world WDS optimization problem is left to the discretion of designers who lack the necessary tools that will gu...

Poor stormwater management is one of the primary factors behind the environmental degradation of water bodies. As a result, best management practices (BMP) and low-impact development (LID) have been implemented and promoted in many cities. This study presents some interesting results from a 1-year monitoring program for a rain garden located at a c...

Urban drainage systems are prone to symptomatic decay that eventually causes surcharged flows and flooding, with important consequences for the aquatic ecosystems of receiving water bodies in addition to the safety of drinking water and recreational water activities. Rapid urban development and climate change combine with wear and tear along with a...

Urban drainage networks are subjected to increased runoff caused by urbanization and climate change. Wear and tear, coupled with a lack of network maintenance, reduces the hydraulic capacity of these networks and results in surcharged flows, discharges and overflows calling for the need to institute effective restructuring strategies. The purpose o...

This paper focuses on pressurized wavefront behavior and an analysis of trapped air pockets. Flow behavior, trapped air-pocket pressure, and different pressurized wavefront shapes in addition to their propagation conditions were investigated to improve modeling of mixed flows with trapped air pockets in stormwater systems. Pipe slopes, inflow, and...

Because natural flow (NF) values are either not directly measured or have the potential to contain considerable error, when deemed necessary, the reconstruction of a reliable NF series is ostensibly important. Selecting the appropriate method depends on available data. For a time period before reservoir construction (pre-reservoir construction peri...

During the prereservoir years, when limited data (neighboring basin flow and simulated flow) are available for ungauged basins, simple methods are relevant to reconstruct natural flow (NF). On the other hand, for the postreservoir years, when hydrometric data (water level in the reservoir, turbine flow, and discharged flow) are available for ungaug...

Rapid pipe filling or emptying of water mains and sewer systems is accompanied by transitions between free surface and pressurized flow regimes and subatmospheric unsteady flows, leading to the propagation of pressurized/depressurized wavefronts along the pipe. The occurrence of these phenomena is often more common when the flow becomes transient....

Mixed flows in storm water systems (SWSs) generate a set of complex phenomena that are difficult to capture in modeling. Shock-fitting and shock-capturing techniques are the two main numerical approaches employed today, but these require a number of assumptions and simplifications that can compromise their accuracy. As a result, the current softwar...

Optimal assessment of the overall state of the degradation affecting sewer systems requires consideration of both the hydraulic and the structural aspects. This work identifies a set of 15 factors-pertaining to both degradation aspects-as primary and constituting the framework for hierarchical structuring of the condition states. The relative impor...

Most numerical transient flow models that consider dynamic friction employ a finite differences approach or the method of characteristics. These models assume a single fluid (water only) with constant density and pressure wave velocity. But when transient flow modeling attempts to integrate the presence of air, which produces a variable density and...

In many catchments, natural flow data series are either not directly measured or contained many sources of errors. Since they have always been one of the main data sources for water resource management and planning, it is very important to reconstruct the reliable natural flow data series if they are not available. In the basins where hydraulic dat...

Since 1886, Canada has made continual strides in technological innovation to develop and utilize natural resources in the service of electricity production. Development of energy sources such as hydroelectric, steam (mainly coal), nuclear, internal steam, combustion turbine, wind, and tidal is done according to the availability of the resource and...

Water distribution networks (WDN) are traditionally designed without integrating tanks in the optimization process, despite the numerous benefits tanks bring to network operation. Since 2004, a number of efforts have been made to integrate tanks, and especially consideration of tank sizing, in optimization models for WDN, but important limitations...

Sewer deterioration, prevalent in municipalities throughout Canada, prompted the Quebec provincial government to implement a 1% renewal rate of the conduit facilities as to meet the goals of the national water plan adopted in 2002. Some of the most affected municipalities are usually the ones already under tight budget constraints, and cannot there...

Lengthy winter conditions such as those known in the province of Quebec require that one takes the presence of an ice cover into account in the determination of instantaneous safety factors for dams established in cascade and under the effect of a break wave. Not only should the ice load on the structure be considered but also the effects of the pr...

The failure of a submerged dyke is very often due to the erosion of the materials that form the work. The erosion process continues until a hydro-geotechnical equilibrium is developed between the spillover and the dyke. An experimental laboratory study of a submerged dyke is presented in this article to describe and analyse this erosion process, as...

Optimal management of power plant units is achieved when the global efficiency of the units and the minimization of the total hydraulic head losses through the water transportation systems can be combined. Evaluating these hydraulic head losses appears to be very difficult due to the complexity of the flow conditions through the hydraulic structure...

Le rejet non contrôlé des eaux pluviales est une importante cause de la dégradation de la qualité de l’environnement, notamment au niveau de la nappe phréatique, des milieux récepteurs et des habitations. L’analyse de l’état actuel de la gestion des eaux pluviales au Québec montre l’existence de certaines lacunes dans la conception des réseaux de d...

Currently, the Preissmann slot model still enjoys popularity in modelling the transition between free-surface and fully pressurised flows in tail-race tunnels. However a fully dynamic and transient modelling technique is needed to predict the surge front location and velocity, the pressure rise in the full flow zone and the water depth change in th...

Pour inciter les professionnels québécois engagés dans la gestion durable et optimale des eaux pluviales à cibler des objectifs clairs, huit propositions d’action publique, de même qu’une démarche méthodologique sommaire pouvant aider à utiliser ces propositions de manière avisée et responsable, ont été suggérées dans l’article complémentaire. Le p...

Drainage systems are designed to quickly convey rainwater from urban areas to areas of natural flow (rivers, streams, lakes, etc). Hence, they are sized with the assumption of steady free surface flow. With the frequent flooding of storm sewers and corresponding damage to public and private infrastructure (Schmitt et al. 2004), numerical modeling o...

Water distribution system WDS design has been the subject of minimal improvements over the last decade, even tough the accessibility of computer modeling has increased. Water distribution pipes are designed to provide adequate pressure at distribution nodes and adequate velocity in pipes, usually with the use of a hydraulic solver coupled with the...

Jose G. Vasconcelos And Steven J. Wright, Journal of Hydraulic Research 2007, 45(2), 178–187

Water distribution system (WDS) design has been the subject of minimal improvements over the last decade, despite the fact that the accessibility of computer models has increased. Water distribution pipes are designed to provide adequate pressure at distribution nodes and reasonable velocities in pipes. This is usually done with a hydraulic solver...

During the last four decades, several numerical formulations and specialized software have been developed in response to studies about dam break (DB) wave propagation and its hydraulic and environmental impacts on downstream hydraulic structures and valleys. These methods cannot, however, be used to predict wave propagation within partially covered...

Lengthy winter conditions such as those known in the province of Quebec require that one takes the presence of an ice cover into account in the determination of instantaneous safety factors for dams established in cascade and under the effect of a break wave. Not only should the ice load on the structure be considered but also the effects of the pr...

The presence of an ice cover in regions with long winters modifies the geometric nature of the reservoir between two dams and also the flow properties. This results in loads on the downstream structure that are intensive and impulsive in nature and thus relatively critical to the general stability of the structures than ones without cover. The main...

RÉSUMÉ: L'analyse de la rupture d'une digue nécessite qu'on définisse la brèche que l'érosion pourrait ouvrir dans cette digue, tout en tenant compte de l'influence des irrégularités du terrain, par exemple un haut fond ou une vallée. Pour être représentative, cette étude doit tenir compte à la fois de l'érosion de l'ouvrage et, s'il y a lieu, de l...

Infrastructure costs are a crucial part of sewer system master planning, since the unit costs are needed during the optimisation stages of the analysis. Therefore it is of paramount importance, in the preliminary stages of a project, to have relatively accurate estimates of the infrastructure cost. The item cost for previous projects across South-A...