Abstract

As the largest hydropower project in the world, the Yangtze Three Gorges Project is the key and backbone project for the management and development of the Yangtze River. With a total storage capacity of 39.3 billion m³ and a normal pool level of 175m, the Yangtze Three Gorges Project can play an important role in terms of flood control, power generation and navigation. In June 2003, the Three Gorges Project commenced to impound water for power generation with the first batch of units.

After the Yangtze Three Gorges Project was put into operation, a large amount of sediment will deposit in the reservoir, which will result in serious scouring on the riverbed in the downstream of the reservoir. Therefore, the sediment depositing and scouring is one of the key technical issues in the construction of Three Gorges Project. The government has paid high attention on the sediment issue in the Yangtze Three Gorges Project, upon which a lot of human, physical and financial resources have been inputted into prototype observation on the sediment in the Three Gorges Project, while sediment research had been paid high attention. Abundant information has been collected including water level, discharge, suspended load, bed-load sediment, reservoir depositing, downstream of the reservoir riverbed scouring, and river channel processing of the key reaches, which facilitate the development of sediment subject of the Yangtze River.

This paper mainly briefs the process of demonstration as long as 70 years and prototype observation on the sediment in the Three Gorges Project.

Keywords: The Three Gorges Project, Hydrology and Sediment, Prototype Observation