An unmanned surface vehicle is filming the construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex

Water Surface Vehicle CHC APACHE4

For fast and high-quality bathymetric surveys (depth measurements), an unmanned surface vehicle (CHC APACHE4) will be used during the BHC construction. The drone makes it possible to obtain accurate data on the bottom topography and water surface with minimal human involvement.

Surveyors of the facility have been trained and have successfully started operating the surface vehicle. According to the state contract requirements, specialists shall perform channel surveys before the start of work, in the course of work, and upon its completion. Very often, depth measurements are performed manually using a water gauge, or by a two-man team on a boat using an echo sounder and a GPS/GLONASS receiver.

Prior to the start of river bed dredging, it is necessary to obtain data on the bottom topography to clarify the scope of work. According to the design documentation, construction of the BHC and the Bagaevsky channel-type reservoir provides for dredging at 23 sites. In total, taking into account the cutoff, it is planned to excavate more than 2.1 million cubic meters in the head race, almost 645 thousand cubic meters of soil in the tail race and over 4 thousand in the hydroelectric complex alignment. Underwater terrain maps are an important source of information for optimizing the performance of water activities.

With the help of a drone, all measurements can be performed by one specialist without sailing the river. In addition, it is much easier to deliver a drone to the right area than a boat with the necessary equipment. Prior to work commencement, you need to program the route and launch the drone into the water. All necessary measurements will be performed automatically. Apache allows you to make a detailed survey of a wide bottom strip in one pass.

The use of the Apache drone makes it possible to perform visual control of landforms throughout all dredging operations, to obtain intermediate results, as well as final results upon the work completion.

With the onset of the winter period, the undoubted advantage of the drone is the ability to carry out work even when the water surface is freezing or partially covered with ice, which is very important at the given pace of construction of the Bagaevsky hydroelectric complex.

For reference:
Race is an area where the water surface adjoins the hydraulic structure. The head race is upstream the river, the tail race is downstream.
Hydroelectric complex alinement is a horizontal projection of the conditional axial line of the hydroelectric complex structures.

Project background:
The Bagayevsky Hydroelectric Complex is the most important infrastructure project not only for the Rostov region, but also for the whole country. The hydroelectric complex under construction will be composed of a shipping lock with a central control room, upper and lower approach channels with mooring-guiding structures, a spillway and earth fill dam, a meandering fish bypass and spawning channel and a fish passage lock, industrial, service, engineering and auxiliary facilities, and housing for operating personnel. To ensure the navigation safety, channel-regulating dams are being constructed, as well as shore protection dams that will prevent the development of bank erosion processes (washout and collapse), protect from the impact of ship waves and reduce the negative impact of waters on the population living in these areas. In order to ensure guaranteed waterway dimensions (depth – 4 m, width – 80 m, bending radius – 500 m) in the section from the Kochetovsky Hydroelectric Complex site at km 3004.5 of the waterway of the Integrated Deep Water System (IDWS) to the Bagaevsky Hydroelectric Complex site at km 3089 of the IDWS waterway, dredging and river cut-off are envisaged.