Reactivation of Klingnau reservoir sidearm: Numerical simulation of sediment release downstream

The Klingnau reservoir, situated in north Switzerland, suffers from sedimentation in its left enlargement. The dam is placed in the Aare River about 1 km upstream of its confluence with the Rhine. Due to natural conservation and flood protection reasons, it has been sought for decades to slowdown the sedimentation process in the reservoir. For this purpose, 20’000 m3 of deposited material will be excavated by suction dredge and injected downstream into the Rhine. The objective of the present study is firstly to spot the best place for the material injection downstream. It is then aimed to assure that this injected material will not deposit along the Rhine River down to the Birsfelden dam. The latter is situated 60 km downstream of Klingnau and is the last reservoir on the Rhine River in Swiss territory. To accurately simulate the sedimentation process, one and two-dimensional numerical models are applied. It is confirmed that the majority of injected material stays in suspension and can be transported through the Rhine River down to Birsfelden.