Performance and Design of a Stepped Spillway Aerator

Stepped spillways are frequently limited to specific discharges under around 30 m2/s due to concerns about potential cavitation damages. A small air concentration can prevent such damages and the design of bottom aerators is well established for smooth chutes. The purpose of this study is to systematically investigate the performance of a deflector aerator at the beginning of stepped chutes. Six parameters (chute angle, step height, approach flow depth, approach flow Froude number, deflector angle and deflector height) are varied in a physical model. The spatial air concentration distribution downstream of the aerator, the cavity sub-pressure, water discharge and air discharges are measured. The results describe the commonly used air entrainment coefficient, the jet length, as well as the average and bottom air concentration development to design an aerator. The lowest bottom air concentration measured in all tests is higher than the air concentration recommended in literature to protect against cavitation damages. And, unlike smooth chutes, there appears to be no significant air detrainment downstream of the jet impact. One deflector aerator seems therefore sufficient to provide protection of a stepped spillway.

Geometry-Based Preliminary Quantification of Landslide-Induced Impulse Wave Attenuation in Mountain Lakes

In this work, a simple methodology for preliminarily assessing the magnitude of potential landslide-induced impulse waves’ attenuation in mountain lakes is presented. A set of metrics is used to define the geometries of theoretical mountain lakes of different sizes and shapes and to simulate impulse waves in them using the hydrodynamic software Flow-3D. The modeling results provide the ‘wave decay potential’, a ratio between the maximum wave amplitude and the flow depth at the shoreline. Wave decay potential is highly correlated with what is defined as the ‘shape product’, a metric that represents lake geometry. The relation between these two parameters can be used to evaluate wave dissipation in a natural lake given its geometric properties, and thus estimate expected flow depth at the shoreline. This novel approach is tested by applying it to a real-world event, the 2007 landslide-generated wave in Chehalis Lake (Canada), where the results match well with those obtained using the empirical equation provided by ETH Zurich (2019 Edition). This work represents the initial stage in the development of this method, and it encourages additional research and modeling in which the influence of the impacting characteristics on the resulting waves and flow depths is investigated.

Hydraulic model experiment of energy dissipation on the horizontal and USBR II stilling basin

Flow conditions on overflow systems can result in construction failure, mainly due to the high flow energy. Stilling basin at downstream of the spillway is useful for reducing flow energy. It can reduce the destructive force of water flow. Controlling the hydraulic jump is an important part that includes the jump’s energy, length, and height. The physical hydraulic model was carried out with several series, by making a series of bottom lowering of horizontal and USBR II stilling basin. The experimental study is expected to represent flow behavior in the overflow system regarding flow conditions and energy dissipation. Based on the analytical calculation of flow velocity, the amount of flow energy that occurs at each control point is calculated. The control points are the starting point of the spillway, the chute way toe, and flow depth after the hydraulic jump. The energy loss can be calculated for each control point, while the efficiency of energy dissipation on stilling basin is calculated at the downstream flow depth after the hydraulic jump. Velocity calculated by dividing discharge per unit width by water depth which is based on the flow depth measurement data in the hydraulic model.

Investigation Of Hydraulic Flow Characteristics On Drop Structures

Drop structures are required if the slope of the ground level is steeper than the maximum allowable gradient channel. Drop structures become bigger as height increases. Its hydraulic capability may be reduced due to variations of jets falling on the stilling basin floor due to discharge changing. Drop structures should not be used if the change in energy level exceeds 1.50 m. The free-falling overflow on drop structures will hit the stilling basin and move downstream. As a result of overflows and turbulence in the pool below the nappe, some energy is dissipated at the front. The rest of the energy will be reduced downstream. The objectives of this study are to investigate the hydraulics flow behavior in straight and sloping drop structures and to investigate hydraulics flow behavior in a single and serial vertical drop (stepped drop). The hydraulic model results of single and stepped drop structures are compared to obtain flow behavior and energy dissipation information. The comparisons are specific to the flow parameters, including flow depth at the drop structures toe, flow depth after the jump, and hydraulic jump length.

Study on hydrodynamic characteristics and influence factors of asphalt pavement runoff

A hydrodynamic model is developed for rainfall runoff on asphalt pavement using two-dimensional shallow water equations. A simple yet precise expression is presented to compute flow velocity in order to alleviate the problems associated with numerical instabilities due to small water depths of thin sheet flow. The developed model performed well against measured data and numerical results in two segments. Then, the model is applied to study the influence of highway horizontal alignment, drainage manner, rainfall pattern, surface roughness and geometric parameters on pavement runoff. The results demonstrate that: (i) the influence of highway horizontal alignment on pavement runoff is nonsignificant, while that of drainage manner and the pavement surface roughness is significant. Great differences are observed in flow depth under concentrated drainage and overflow drainage conditions, especially in the area beyond 6 m away from the highway center axis; (ii) remarkable differences in maximum flow depth and peak runoff are presented under uneven and even rainfall conditions, while no great differences are found under three uneven rainfall conditions (front type, center front type and back front type); (iii) the sensitivity of the geometric parameters to the maximum flow depth from strong to weak is cross slope, width, slope length, and longitudinal slope under overflow drainage condition; while that is width, slope length, longitudinal slope and cross slope under concentrated drainage condition.

The Manning’s Roughness Coefficient Calibration Method to Improve Flood Hazard Analysis in the Absence of River Bathymetric Data: Application to the Urban Historical Zamora City Centre in Spain

The accurate estimation of flood risk depends on, among other factors, a correct delineation of the floodable area and its associated hydrodynamic parameters. This characterization becomes fundamental in the flood hazard analyses that are carried out in urban areas. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to have a correct characterization of the topography, both inside the riverbed (bathymetry) and outside it. Outside the riverbed, the LiDAR data led to an important improvement, but not so inside the riverbed. To overcome these deficiencies, different models with simplified bathymetry or modified inflow hydrographs were used. Here, we present a model that is based upon the calibration of the Manning’s n value inside the riverbed. The use of abnormally low Manning’s n values made it possible to reproduce both the extent of the flooded area and the flow depth value within it (outside the riverbed) in an acceptable manner. The reduction in the average error in the flow depth value from 50–75 cm (models without bathymetry and “natural” Manning’s n values) to only about 10 cm (models without bathymetry and “calibrated” Manning’s n values), was propagated towards a reduction in the estimation of direct flood damage, which fell from 25–30% to about 5%.

Estimating output flow depth from Rockfill Porous media

To analyze the flow in a rockfill porous media using the Gradually Varied Flows theory (one-dimensional flow analysis) and solving the Parkin equation (two-dimensional flow analysis), calculation of the output flow depth as the downstream boundary condition is of great importance. In most previous studies, the output flow depth has been considered equal to the critical depth. In the rockfill porous media, unlike free surface channels, the fluid weight is exerted to the aggregates in addition to the flow, and therefore, the output flow depth from the rockfill is always greater than the critical depth (flow leaves the rockfill with a specific energy greater than the critical energy), and is expressed as a coefficient (Γ) of the critical depth. In the present study, using dimensional analysis and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and experimental data in different conditions (a total of 178 experimental data for rounded, crashed, Glass artificial materials with rhomboid structure, Glass artificial materials with cubic structure, sandy natural materials), an equation was presented to calculate the mentioned coefficient as a function of the physical characteristics of the rockfill porous media as well as the flow that can be used for all experimental conditions with high accuracy. If the output flow depth is considered to be equal to the critical depth, the mean relative error (MRE) in terms of using the experimental data of the mentioned materials separately and for the data of all the mentioned materials together was equal to 84.40, 83.81, 60.62, 67.68, 74.82 and 69.96%, respectively. In the case of using the proposed equation in the present study, the corresponding values of 5.49, 4.72, 6.24, 4.41, 6.42 and 8.99% were calculated, respectively.

Mathematical simulation of air-water flow along Ski Jump Jet

In the present study, using a quasi 3D analytical simulation, air concentration distribution in ski jump generated jet is calculated. A numerical simulation is also performed to verify the results of the analytical model in parallel with the available experimental and another analytical data. By solving continuity and momentum equations in case of air-water flow for three different cases, it was confirmed that the air concentrations along the ski jet are uniquely linked to the relative black water core length. Results showed that the black water core length is also influenced by the approach flow depth, Froude number, geometrical parameters of ski jump and the chute bottom angle. Finally, an analytical equation is proposed to predict the air concentration distribution along the ski jump jet regarding different hydraulic and geometric parameters. By calculating the velocity profiles along the jet, it showed that increasing the air concentration reduces the jet velocity profile.