Fishway Optimization Revisited

Abstract

River fishways are hydraulic structures enabling fish to overcome stream obstructions (for instance, dams in hydroelectric power plants). This paper presents a combination of mathematical modelling and optimal control theory in order to improve the optimal shape design of a fishway. The problem can be formulated within the framework of the optimal control of partial differential equations, approximated by a discrete optimization problem, and solved by using a gradienttype method (the Spectral Projected-Gradient algorithm). Numerical results are shown for a standard real-world situation.