Verificação da influência da infestação do mexilhão dourado nas grades de tomadas d'água

Abstract

Hydroelectric power plants are very important enterprises of electric power generation, especially in Brazil. Sustaining the generating machines required flow levels is essential for efficient production. The golden mussel, Limnoperna fortunei, originated in Southeast Asia has become an invasive freshwater specie in some hydrographical basins of South America. His ability to adhere to various substrata, the reduced larval form size and his gregarious behavior has, in the past ten years of invasion, promoted different problems in several kinds of facilities, including the hydroelectric power plants. His biological characteristics and invasion environmental impacts have being studied. However, economical impacts he promotes because of his colonization on facilities structures were not too studied yet. On the present work will be evaluated, qualitative and quantitatively, the golden mussel hydraulic infestation influences on the hydroelectric power plants water intakes trashracks. For studying this scenario a channel was built where some trashracks configurations models and varying degree infestation was simulated and changes were measured in the flow set. It was observed at the end of the studies that the head losses, though existent, does not generate significant financial losses to the enterprises, but the drag produced by the mussels in the trashracks was the biggest problem detected, which could compromise the supports structure.