Pengcheng Li

• PhD
• Environmental flow scientist at University of Alberta; Ecofish Research

Gas bubbles are commonly observed in both natural and human‐made water systems, and their generation and distribution play pivotal roles in water quality and aquatic habitats. This study explores methods for predicting bubble size distribution within various types of turbulent flows. Models for bubble size distribution, both with and without bubble...

Rapid filling processes in urban water infrastructure, involving open-channel to pressurized flow transitions with complex air–water interactions, require precise understanding of transient pressure surges, air entrapment and air discharge mechanisms. This study establishes the first experimental framework classifying rapid pipe filling into four d...

Spillway and drainage tunnels have an open-channel flow pattern when operating under unpressured condition, above which air flow is driven and resisted by water flow, wall friction, and pressure difference. Unpressured tunnels present many airflow-related safety and environmental issues, including water flow fluctuation, gate vibration, shaft cover...

Channel constructions significantly impact river hydrodynamics, subsequently influencing river ecosystems. To mitigate the negative influence of channel construction and protect fish habitat, it is essential to evaluate fish habitat suitability through the integration of hydrodynamic and habitat models. This study models channel constructions on bo...

The combination of aerated flows and a high-pressure environment in a stilling basin can result in the supersaturation of total dissolved gas (TDG) downstream of hydraulic projects, posing an ecological risk to aquatic populations by inducing gas bubble disease (GBD) or other negative effects. There is limited literature reporting TDG mass transfer...

Municipal drainage systems can transmit harmful microorganisms such as COVID-19 virus through wastewater as well as drain airflow with suspended tiny bio-droplets. The generation of tiny droplets in drainage systems can be simplified as the phenomenon of jet impingement and splashing, which is also common in industries, but the size and velocity co...

Municipal drainage systems can transmit harmful microorganisms such as COVID-19 virus through wastewater as well as drain airflow with suspended tiny bio-droplets. The generation of tiny droplets in drainage systems can be simplified as the phenomenon of jet impingement and splashing, which is also common in industries, but the size and velocity co...

Supersaturated total dissolved gas (TDG) produced by dams can have negative ecological consequences and development of appropriate mitigation requires facility specific information. In this study, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model and an analytical model for air entrainment were used to investigate how different flow deflector designs infl...

Individual fish may be involuntarily removed from hydropower reservoir populations due to dam operations, a phenomenon known as fish entrainment. Entrainment for two life stages (age-0 and age-1) of Kokanee salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) was evaluated within the forebay of the Revelstoke Dam in the upper Columbia River, British Columbia, Canada. Inten...

The construction of fish passage facilities is a promising approach to balance fish conservation and water resource development by improving river connectivity. To be successful, a fishway must efficiently attract fish to its entrance and have an interior flow field that meets the needs of migrating fish. In this paper, methods were explored to imp...

Supersaturated total dissolved gases (TDGs) generated by dams can cause gas bubble trauma and mortality in fish in downstream waters. In this study, we evaluated air entrainment and generation of supersaturated TDG at two submerged low-level outlets (LLOs) at Hugh L. Keenleyside Dam, British Columbia, Canada. Specifically, we determined how air ent...

Total dissolved gas supersaturation (TDG) is a common issue in hydropower facilities as a result of water conveyance structures that increase the amount of air entrainment from the atmosphere and dissolved into the water. Water with TDG supersaturation can negatively impact fish, aquatic invertebrates and their habitats. This study comprehensively...

The air flow induced by a water jet freely falling inside a vertical pipe with its top and bottom both open to the atmosphere was investigated experimentally and numerically. In the experiments, the radial air velocity distribution and the air pressure variation along the vertical pipe were measured. The air drag of the falling water jet was relate...

Hydrodynamics in dam tailraces can influence the swimming behavior and survival of fish, and yet there have been few studies that have linked the movement patterns of fish to encountered flow patterns. In this study, we examined the flow field downstream of Seton Dam in British Columbia, Canada using acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs), and...

This paper presents an analytical study of mass transfer from a single bubble rising in stagnant water and its size variation. A model for bubble–water mass transfer was established and validated using the experimental measurements from a rising carbon dioxide bubble. The effects of bubble horizontal velocity, bubble release depth, initial bubble s...

This paper presents a numerical modeling of a circular submerged offset jet in a rectangular stormwater pond and investigates various design parameters (inlet offset position, tailwater depth, bottom roughness, and basin width and length) on jet velocity decay and energy dissipation. Results from the numerical model suggest that the energy dissipat...