Fish Ladder Flow-Network & Dissipation Map

Weir & Pool Geometry

Head drop per pool ΔH 0.30 m

Slot width b 0.45 m

Pool width W 1.60 m

Migrating Species

Live Hydraulics

Jet velocity v

–

Flow rate Q

–

Dissipation ε

–

Pools for 3 m rise

–

How it works

This is a 2D-native redraw of the same pool-and-weir hydraulics as the 3D bypass model — a flow-network bar chart on top, a parameter-space dissipation map on the bottom — using the identical weir-equation physics rather than a camera view of a 3D scene:

v  = Cv · √(2 g ΔH)
Q  = Cd · b · s · √(2 g ΔH)
ε  = ρ g Q ΔH / Vol_pool   [W/m³]

Cv ≈ 0.90 (velocity coefficient), Cd ≈ 0.85 (discharge coefficient), s = 0.60 m (submerged slot depth), and Vol_pool = pool length (1.8 m) × pool width W × water depth (1.0 m).

The top bar chart is a staircase profile: bar height = cumulative elevation i·ΔH for each of the 6 pools, with jet arrows between bars carrying particles at a speed scaled to the live jet velocity v.
The bottom heatmap is a parameter-space map of dissipation ε over head drop ΔH (x-axis) and pool width W (y-axis) at the current slot width b, with a contour line at the 150 W/m³ fisheries guideline and a marker at your current sliders.
A fish can only ascend a slot if its burst swim speed exceeds the jet velocity v — below v it gets swept back downstream, exactly as the release button demonstrates on the bar chart.

This is the pool-and-weir / vertical-slot fishway built alongside almost every modern hydroelectric dam to let anadromous fish reach spawning grounds upstream of the barrier.

Pool elevation bar Weir jet particle Migrating fish