Stepped spillway design for energy dissipation

Abstract

Important water structures known as stepped spillways are used to dissipate energy, aerate rivers, and reduce the cost of the downstream pool. The aim of this study is to increase the energy dissipation rate by proposing an alternative design to the flat stepped spillways, which are frequently used in practice. For that reason, the Circular Stepped Spillway (CSS) has been constructed and numerically investigated in this paper. The energy dissipation rate of the CSS and the flat stepped spillway has been compared using three different models and discharges. According to the simulation findings, the CSS performs better as the step radius gets smaller. The CSS models with step depths of 0.50, 1.50, and 2.50 cm have dissipated up to 21.4, 38, and 50.7% more energy than the flat stepped spillway, respectively.

Effect of the Stepped Spillway Geometry on the Flow Energy Dissipation

“…Table 6 also shows the effect of step roundness on flow energy dissipation for the horizontal steps. The results of the present study are compared to the previous studies [34,35]. Accordingly, the roundness of steps or the use of rounded step edges and rounded sills produces more energy dissipation in comparison to the traditional stepped weirs.…”