ifir m TL 400 Draft Translation 400 RECOMMENDED PRACTICE FOR COMBATTING ICE JAMS <0 % a V.l. Sinotin et al. August 1973^ CORPS OF ENGINEERS, U.S. ARMY COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LABORATORY HANOVER, NEW HAMPSHIRE l APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE; DISTRIBUTION UNLIMITED. ' SC" Draf t^Translation 400 ' HP ?C 7 * Jj f % ENGLISH TITLE: RECOMMENDED PRACTICE FOR COMBATTING ICE JAMS FOREIGN TITLE: ( METODICHESKIE UKAZANIIA PO BOR'BE S ZATORAMI I ZAZHORAMI L'DA*V ~ ' 3 , AUTHOR: ’ V. I. Sinotin "et al. SOURCE: Metodicheskiye Ukazaniya po Bor'be s Zatorami i Zazhorami L'da.yMinisterstvo Energetiki i Elektrifikatsii SSSR^/Glavtekhstroyproyekt (USSR Ministry of Power Engineering and Electri­ fication, Main Technical Construction Project), All-Union Scientific Research Hydraulic Engineering Institute imeni B.Ye. Vedeneyev, Power Engineering Press, Leningrad Branch, 1970, p 1-151 Translated by U.S. Joint Publications Research Service for U.S.‘'Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, 1973, 106 p. NOTICE The contents of this publication have been translated as presented in the original text. No attempt has been made to verify the accuracy of any statement contained herein. This translation is published with a minimum of copy editing and graphics preparation in order to expedite the dissemination of information. Requests for additional copies of this document should be addressed to the Defense Documentation Center, Cameron Station, Alexandria, Virginia 22314. LIBRARY JUL 1 3 2010 Bureau ot Reclamation I« UDC 551.326.83 RECOMMENDED PRACTICE FOR COMBATTING ICE JAMS Metodicheskiye Ukazaniya po Bor1be s Candidate of Technical Sciences Zatorami i Zazhorami L'da (English title V. I. Sinotin et al. as above). Ministerstvo Energetiki i Elektrifikatsii SSSR, Glavtekhstroy- proyekt (USSR Ministry of Power Engineer­ ing and Electrification, Main Technical Construction Project), All-Union Scien­ tific Research Hydraulic Engineering Institute imeni B.Ye. Vedeneyev, Power Engineering Press, Leningrad Branch, 1970, p 1-151 CONTENTS Page Foreword 3 Terminology 6 Chapter 1. GENERAL INFORMATION 1. Ice Jam Definition 7 2. Ice Jam Formation 8 3. Location of Ice Jams 10 4. Factors Influencing Ice Jam Formation 12 5. Ice Jam Classification 14 6. Methods of Combatting Ice Jams 15 7. Single Preventive Measures to Combat Ice Jams 16 8. Repeated Preventive Measures to Combat Ice Jams 18 9. Principles Governing Preventive Measures for Combatting 20 Ice Jams 21 10. Destroying Ice Jams 11. Remarks on the Organization of Jam Countermeasures 23 - 1 - •I Page Chapter 2. FIELD OBSERVATIONS OF ICE JAMS AND DATA ANALYSIS 25 1. Ice Jam Observations 25 2. Data Processing of Ice Jams 29 3. Ice Jam Forecasting 30 4. Predicting the Strength of Ice Jams 32 Chapter 3. ARTIFICIAL WEAKENING OF ICE 34 1. Using Radiant Heat to Destroy the Ice Cover (Dusting Snow-Ice Covers) 34 2 . Chemical Destruction of Ice Cover 41 3. Inhibiting Ice Accretion in Winter 44 Chapter 4. MECHANICAL DESTRUCTION OF ICE 46 1. Ice Cutting Machines and Their Characteristics 46 2. Using Icebreakers to Prevent and Combat Ice Jams 52 Chapter 5. ARTIFICIAL ICE JAMS AND STRAIGHTENING OF CHANNELS 58 1. Artificial Ice Jams 58 2. Channel Straightening to Prevent Ice Jams 61 Chapter 6. USING AIRPLANES TO PREVENT AND DESTROY ICE JAMS 65 1. Aerial Ice Surveys 65 2. Using Planes for Explosive Work 66 3. Aerial Bombing 67 Chapter 7. PREVENTION AND DESTRUCTION OF ICE JAMS WITH EXPLOSIVES 70 1. General Information 70 2. Ice Jam Prevention with Explosives 71 3. Explosion of Large Ice Fields and Jams 75 4. Explosive Destruction of Ice Jams 80 5. Using Helicopters for Explosive Work 80 Chapter 8. PASSAGE OF ICE THROUGH HYDRAULIC STRUCTURES DURING CONSTRUC­ TION AND USE OF HYDROELECTRIC STATIONS WITHOUT ICE JAM FOR­ MATION 83 1* General Conditions for Passage of Ice Through Structures 83 2• Plan for Ice Passage During the Erection of Hydraulic Structures on Rivers with a Heavy Ice Flow 86 — 2 — I» Page 87 3. Passage O f Ice 88 4. Passage Of Ice 90 5. Passage of Ice 91 6. Slowing o f Ice Chapter• 9. HYDRAULIC AND 93 TO PREVENT AND COMBAT ICE JAMS 1. Ice Jam Formation 93 2. Preventing and Combatting Ice Jams 95 3. Hydraulic Regulation of the Current to Inhibit Ice Jam Formation 97 4. Thermal Regulation of Water Bodies and Currents to Inhibit Ice Jam Formation 98 BIBLIOGRAPHY 103 FOREWORD Ice jams are inseparable occurrences in the annual cycle of the life of many rivers. Ice jams are typical of most USSR rivers. They represent a serious danger for two reasons : in relation to the floods which they cause and the possibility of destruction of various hydraulic engineering struc­ tures by ice. The floods caused by ice jams compel us to transfer to safe locations the large industrial objects and increase the cost of building hydraulic engineering and other structures. Every year, the ice jams inflict tremen­ dous losses on the national economy while in individual unfortunate years, these losses increase by many times. For the development of efficient measures for combatting the ice jams, it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the physics of the phenomenon and the causes engendering it. The attention of many organizations is being directed toward a study of the ice jam occurrences on the USSR rivers. We have studied the processes of ice jam formation on a number of large rivers (Yenisey, Volga, Ob', Dnestr, Northern Dvina, and Lena), we have conducted studies of the ice jam processes on the Angara River and on the rivers in the Caucasus and Central Asia, we are performing studies with the purpose of developing methods for predicting the ice jams on rivers; we have completed a number of studies on the application of various methods of influencing the ice runoff. As a whole, however, the processes of ice jams have not yet been adequately studied. Specifically we have not developed bases for the theory - 3- «r of formation, stability and breakdown of ice jams; we have studied inadequately the physico-mechanical properties of ice under various conditions; a generally, recognized classification of ice jam occurrences and a listing of the jamming sectors is lacking and we have not established to a complete extent the ef- fectivity of any given means of combatting the ice jams under the various con­ ditions of their formation. Such a situation is explained in terms of the complexity of modeling these phenomena under laboratory conditions, with the awkwardness and high cost of full-scale studies, with the poor state of study of the individual general problems in ice engineering and by the inadequate attention paid to this question. We still lack instructive documents of a procedural and standardizing nature on combatting and avoiding ice jams. This leads to the situation that the preventive measures for combatting these occurrences based on regulating the mechanism of river breakup, runoff of ice and its physico-mechanical properties are rarely utilized. Also we frequently have cases when for the breakup of ice jams, we em­ ploy methods not yielding the necessary results and sometimes leading to un­ desirable consequences and to a useless expenditure of government funds. For example at the present time the methods of combatting ice jams reduce mainly to a timely mechanical destruction of the ice cover in the locations threatened by jams and the elimination of developed jams by ex­ plosions and bombing; this is becoming quite popular owing to the possibility of operational intervention. The explosions and bombing also yield a negative effect associated with killing fish and the risk of inflicting damange to populated points, and as a whole is undesirable. At the same time, the effec­ tiveness of these methods is by no means always the same and depends on the features involved in the ice jam. The modern achievements of science and technology and available ex­ perience permit us to consider the ice jam formation as physical processes subject to control. The loss caused by them even now can be reduced to a definite minimum under the stipulation of a proper organization of combatting these phenomena. For the purpose of facilitating this problem, we have compiled the present "Recommended Practice for Combatting Ice Jams". In the compilation of these guidelines, we have utilized the experience accumulated in the USSR for the control of ice occurrences and combatting the ice jams which have already formed. Since the jamming of ice is regarded as the most dangerous phenomenon, the greater part of the suggested "Recommended Practice has been devoted to ice jams. As we have already indicated, many facets of the complex problem of counteracting ice jams have still been inadequately studied and the available experience and objective data are insufficient for a thorough substantiation of the recommendations. - 4- * Moreover owing to the complex nature and the diverse conditions involved in the origin of the actual ice jams and blockings, the effort toward develop­ ing standard measures for combatting the jams and blockings would in principle be invalid. Guided by this, we adopted the following principle for compiling the "Standard Practices". In the first chapter we present information of a general nature, the classification of the occurrences and certain concepts concerning the choice of a system of measures for counteracting the ice jams. In the subsequent chapters, we clarify in more detail the individual procedures and methods of preventing and counteracting ice jams, and the features involved in their application under different conditions. In the "Standard Practices , we do not cite detailed descriptions of actual cases. They can be found in the literature listed at the end of the document. In this manner the purpose of the present "Standard Practices is to aid in selecting the most feasible combination of measures for the actual local conditions.