DAM APPURTENANT STRUCTURES

Chapter 3

DAM APPURTENANT STRUCTURES

3.1 Dam Outlets Works

3.2 Spillway and Its Design Principles
3.3 Energy Dissipaters

Spillway

Bottom Outlet Spillway

1
 Dam Outlet Works Dam Outlet Works
 Dam outlet is a combination of structures and equipment required for Canal outlets:
the safe operation and control of water released from a reservoir to • Control the flow of water into a canal, pipeline or river to satisfy
serve different objectives. specified needs
 Outlets are classified according to the purpose they serve. • Their design will depend primarily on water needs and also on
 River outlets the capacity requirements with the reservoir at a predetermined
 Canal outlets (irrigation, municipal water supply & industrial outlets) elevation as well as the amount of control required as elevation
 Pressure pipe (power) outlets of the reservoir fluctuates
River outlets: Pressure pipe (power) outlets:
• Regulates flows to the river and control the water level in the reservoir • Provide passage of water to the turbines for generation of
• useful for increasing the flow downstream of the dam along with the hydropower
normal spillway discharge. • The power outlets should be so designed as to minimize
• Act as flood control regulator hydraulic losses and to obtain the maximum economy in
• serve to empty the reservoir for inspection, repair, and maintenance construction as well as operation.
of the upstream face of the dam and other structures which are
normally inundated.

Outlet Works Outlet Works

Dam outlet works: consist generally of spillways and bottom

(high-head) outlets.
Spillways: are basically dam appurtenances ensuring a safe
passage of floods from the reservoir into the downstream
river reach. They are usually situated at the top of the dam
except tunnel spillway.

2
 Spillway
Spillway
The occurrence of a flood in an unobstructed natural stream is considered to
be a natural event for which no individual or group is held responsible.
However, if a flood occurs on account of the failure of an artificial obstruction
(such as a dam) constructed across a natural stream, the agency
responsible for the construction of the obstruction is held responsible.

Embankment dams constructed of earth or rockfill material are very likely to

be destroyed, if overtopped. Concrete dams may, however, tolerate
moderate overtopping. The damage to life and property on account of the
failure of a dam would be catastrophic.

As such, there must always be a provision to release excess water safely

when the reservoir has been filled to its capacity so that the dam itself is not
overtopped. This is achieved by constructing a spillway. Spillways release
safely the surplus water which cannot be contained in the reservoir created
by the dam.

Spillway Spillways and Its Design Principles

Design Principles  A spillway is the overflow portion of a dam, over which

 The spillway design depends primarily on the design flood, dam surplus discharge flows from the reservoir to the down-
type and location, topography and geology and reservoir size stream
and operation.  A spillway can be located either within the body of the dam,
 Spillway can be constructed either as part of the main dam or at one end of it or entirely away from it, independently in
or separate a saddle
 While designing spillway, the following general aspects have to
be dealt with as well.
the selection of inflow design flood and its frequency,
flood routing,
freeboard and reservoir sedimentation,
cavitations,
aeration, and
energy dissipation

3
 Spillways and Its Design Principles Spillways and Its Design Principles
Components of Spillway: Control, conveyance, terminal and b) Conveyance structure:
entrance and exit channels  The outflow released through the control structure is usually conveyed
a) Control structure: to the downstream river channel through a discharge channel or
waterway.
 regulates and controls the outflow from the reservoir
 Free fall spillways, however, do not require any such conveyance
 usually located at the u/s end of the spillway and consists of some
structure.
form of orifice or overflow crest. In some cases, however, the
control may be at the downstream end. For example, in a  The conveyance structure can be the downstream face of the dam (if
‘morning glory’ spillway the spillway has been constructed in the main body of the dam)
c) terminal structure: stilling basins at the d/s end of the spillway are
 The crest can be sharp, broad, ogee-shaped, or of some other
usually provided so that the excess kinetic energy is dissipated, & to
cross-section.
avoid an objectionable scour near the toe of the dam.
 Similarly, orifice can have different shapes and may be placed in a
d) Entrance and exit channel: Entrance channel conveys water from
horizontal, vertical, or inclined position and can be sharp-edged,
the reservoir to the control structure while the exit channel conveys flow
round-edged or bell mouth-shaped. from the terminal structure to the stream channel downstream of the
dam. This is not required in case of overflow spillway

Spillways and Its Design Principles Spillways and Its Design Principles

Classification of Spillway Free/uncontrolled Spillway

Controlled Spillway
 Spillways may be classified in several ways:
1) according to function as:
 main (service): to dispose the designed flood above the
normal level
 emergency and
 auxiliary spillways
2) according to mode of control as:
 free (uncontrolled) and
 gated (controlled) spillways;

4
 Spillways and Its Design Principles Types Spillways
3) according to hydraulic criteria as:
1. Ogee spillway: has a control weir with ogee shape. Most
 Free overfall (straight drop) spillway commonly used as the integral overflow section of a concrete or
 Overflow generally called Ogee Spillway a masonry dam and it is suited to wider valleys where sufficient
 side channel Spillway crest length may be provided.
 Chute Spillway
 Shaft Spillway (Morning Glory)
 Siphon and tunnel spillways.
 Cascade spillway
 Tunnel (conduit) spillway

Types Spillways Types Spillways

2. Chute spillway: The chute spillway is adopted with earth-fill dams 3. Side channel spillway: Suitable for earth or rock-fill dams in
because of: i) simplicity of their design and construction, ii) their narrow canyons and for other situations where direct overflow is
adaptability to all types of foundation ranging from solid rock to soft not permissible, where the space required for a chute spillway of
clay, and iii) overall economy usually obtained by the use of large adequate crest length is not available and when a long overflow
amounts of spillway excavation for the construction of embankment. crest is required.
The chute spillway is also suitable for concrete dams constructed in
narrow valleys across a river whose bed is erodible for which the ogee
spillway becomes unsuitable.

5
 Types Spillways Types Spillways
4. Shaft spillway/Tunnel spillway: Used advantageously at dam sites in 6. Free over-fall spillway: Suitable for arch dams
narrow canyons where abutments rise steeply or where a diversion
7. Cascade Spillway: in case of very high dams (especially for high
tunnel or conduit is available for use as the downstream.
earth and rockfill dams for which spillway is a major structure)
5. Siphon spillway: Used when there is a desire for an automatic where the kinetic energy at the toe of the dam will be very high,
operation without mechanical parts and the discharge to be passed is
possibility of providing a cascade of falls with a stilling basin at
small.
each fall must be considered.

Ogee or Overflow Spillways Ogee or Overflow Spillways

It is the most common type of spillway.  The basic shape of the overfall (ogee) spillway is
derived from the lower envelope of the overall nappe
It has a control weir that is ogee or S-shaped.
flowing over a high vertical rectangular notch with an
It is a gravity structure requiring sound foundation and approach velocity V0= 0 and a fully aerated space
is preferably located in the main river channel. beneath the nappe (p=patm ).

Fig. Sharp crested and Ogee profiles

6
 Ogee or Overflow Spillways Ogee or Overflow Spillways

 Ogee spillway is widely used with concrete, Masonry, arch

and buttress dams & can be used on valley where the
width of the river is sufficient to provide the required crest
length and the river bed below can be protected from scour
at moderate costs.

Designing of the Crest of Ogee Spillway

Designing of the Crest of Ogee Spillway

 Several standard Ogee shapes have been developed by

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at their Waterways
Experimental Station (WES) and known as WES Standard
Spillway Shapes
 The d/s profile can be represented by the equation  Thus, for a spillway having a vertical u/s face, the d/s crest is
where: given by the equation:
 (x,y) are the coordinates of the point on the crest profile with  According to the latest studies of U.S. Army Corps, the u/s
the origin at the highest point C of the crest, called the curve of the ogee spillway having a vertical face, should have
apex, the following equation:
 Hd is the design head including the velocity head.
 K and n are constants depending upon the slope of the
upstream face and their values are tabulated in Table
below

7
 Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway

The discharge passing over the ogee spillway is given

by the equation

The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway

8
9
Exercise:
1. Design a suitable section for the overflow section of a
concrete gravity dam having the d/s face slope of 0.7H:1V.
The design discharge for the spillway is 6000 cumecs. The
height of the spillway above the river bed is 60m. The
effective length of spillway may be taken as 50m

2. Design an uncontrolled overflow ogee crest spillway to

accommodate a high discharge of 280m3/s over its crest
length so that the water level does not exceed 112m at a
location where the bottom level of the river is 106m. The
upstream face is vertical and downstream face is sloped
0.7H: 1V respectively. The spillway length consists of 5
spans having a clear width of 6m each. Thickness of each
pier may be taken to be 0.1m

10
 Energy Dissipaters
Energy dissipation

 Energy dissipation is usually required to achieve one or

more of the following
 Prevent the undermining of the outlet, chute or spillway

 Control of bed scour immediately downstream of the

energy dissipater
 Control of bank erosion well d/s of the structure caused
by an outlet jet
Location of Excess Energy
 Downstream of spillways, weirs, gates, etc.
 Steep longitudinal bed slopes
 Downstream of drop structures

2) Bucket type energy dissipaters

ENERGY DISSIPATERS
Energy dissipators: are designed to dissipate the excess in
kinetic energy at the end of the chute before it re-enters the
natural stream.
 Where rapid transition from a supercritical to subcritical flow
(reduce high velocity flow to low velocity) occur (hydraulic
jump) i.e dissipate hydraulic energy .
They are also called downstream protection 3) USBR TYPE STILLING BASINS
works(Launching apron) and occupies a vital place in design 1) For Froude's number between 1.7 and 2.5
of spillways, weirs and barrages. For this case only a horizontal apron needs to be provided.
Purpose: to prevent erosion, abrasion of hydraulic structures, As the flow in this case does not have much turbulence usually
generation of tail water waves or scouring. no accessories are required to be provided.
Methods of Dissipating Energy However, the apron should be sufficiently long to contain the
1) Hydraulic Jump type Stilling entire jump over it.
Basin Length of apron = Length of jump = 5 Y2,
•Horizontal apron type where Y2 is the sequent depth
•Sloping apron type

11
2) USBR Stilling Basin II 2) USBR Stilling Basin III
 This is used when the velocity of the incoming flow exceeds 15 m/s  Of the different types of USBR stilling basins, Type III (see fig. below) is
(Froude number is greater than 4.5), or when baffle blocks are not to be commonly used.
used (see fig. below).  This basin is suitable when the Froude number of the incoming flow
 The basin length is bound to be longer than required for Type III basin. exceeds 4.5, and the velocity of incoming flow does not exceed 15.0 m/s.
 The purpose of providing accessories, such as baffle blocks, chute
blocks, and sill is to ensure the formation of the jump even in conditions
of inadequate tail-water depth, and thus permit shortening of the basin
length.

12
Energy Dissipation Below Overflow Spillway

13