DAM Introduction

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 spillway
• A spillway is a structure constructed at or near
the dam site to dispose of surplus water from
the reservoir to the channel downstream.
• Spillways are provided for all dams as a safety
measure against Overtopping and the
consequent damages and failure.
• A spillway acts as a safety valve for the dam.

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 spillway
• The spillway must have adequate discharge
capacity to pass the maximum flood d/s without
causing any damage to the dam or its
appurtenant structures.
• At the same time, the reservoir level should not
rise above the maximum water level (M.W.L.).
• The MWL is estimated from the inflow flood
hydrograph, storage capacity of the reservoir
and the spillway capacity by flood routing.

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 spillway
• In addition to providing adequate discharge
capacity, the spillway must be
hydrodynamically and structurally safe.
• The spillway surface should be erosion-
resistant to withstand the high velocities
created by the fall of water from the reservoir
surface to the tail water.
• Moreover, the spillway should be located so
that the spillway discharge will not undermine
the downstream toe of the dam.
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 spillway
• A spillway may be located either in the middle
of the dam or at the end of the dam near
abutment.
• In some cases, the spillway is located away
from the dam as an independent structure if
there is a suitable saddle.
• A saddle is a depression of the shape of saddle
used for riding a horse.

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 spillway
• The design of a spillway requires utmost
attention.
• Many failures of dams occurred in the past
because of improperly designed spillways or by
spillways of inadequate capacity.
• For earth and rock fill dams, a liberal spillway
capacity should be provided because they fail as
soon as they are overtopped.
• However, concrete dams can withstand some
moderate overtopping and may have less liberal
spillway capacity. 6
 spillway
Essential Requirements of a Spillway
1. It must have adequate discharge capacity
2. It must be hydraulically and structurally safe
3. The surface of the spillway must be erosion
resistant.
4. Spillway discharge does not erode or
undermine the downstream toe of the dam.
5. It should dissipate excess energy.
6. The spillway discharge should not exceed the
discharge capacity of the d/s channel. 7
 spillway
Required Spillway Capacity
• The required spillway capacity is usually
determined by flood routing.
• The spillway capacity should be equal to the
maximum outflow rate determined by flood
routing.

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 spillway
Required Spillway Capacity
Data are required for the flood routing:
(i) Inflow flood hydrograph, indicating the rate of
inflow with respect to time. It is the same as the
design flood hydrograph of the spillway.
(ii) Reservoir-capacity curve, indicating the
reservoir storage at different reservoir elevations.
(iii) Outflow discharge curve, indicating the rate of
outflow through spillways at different reservoir
elevations.
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 spillway
The following factors affect the spillway capacity.
1. Inflow flood hydrograph
2. Available storage capacity.
3. Capacity of outlets -
4. Gates of spillway
5. Possible damage, if the capacity is exceeded.

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 Ogee spillway design
• An ogee-shaped (or overflow) spillway is the
most commonly used spillway.
• It is widely used with gravity dams, arch dams
and buttress dams.
• Several earth and rockfill dams are also
provided with this type of spillway as a separate
structure.
• An ogee-shaped spillway is an improvement
upon the free over fall spillway.
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 Ogee spillway design
• The essential difference between the free over
fall spillway and the ogee-shaped spillway is
that in the case of a free over fall spillway, the
water flowing over the crest of the spillway
drops vertically as a free jet clear from the
downstream face whereas in the case of an
ogee-shaped spillway, the water flowing over
the crest is guided smoothly over the crest and
is made to glide over the downstream face of
the spillway.
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 Ogee spillway design
• The upper surface of the spillway is properly
shaped to form the crest.
• The nappe-shaped profile is an ideal profile
because at the design head, the water flowing
over the crest of the spillway always remains in
contact with the surface of the spillway as it
glides over it
• Moreover, for this shape. no negative pressure
will develop on the spillway surface at the
design head.
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 Ogee spillway design
• However, when the head is greater than the
design head, the overflowing water tends to
break contact with the spillway surface and a
zone of separation is formed,
• In which case a negative or suction pressure
occurs.
• This may cause vibration, pitting of the spillway
surface and a number of other problems.
However, the coefficient of discharge of the
spillway is increased.
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 Ogee spillway design
• On the other hand, if the head is less than the
design head. the water overflowing over the
crest of the spillway remains in contact with the
surface of the spillway and a positive
hydrostatic pressure is exerted by the flowing
water because the nappe tends to be
depressed.
• As the spillway surface supports the sheet of
flowing water which creates a backwater effect,
the coefficient of discharge is reduced.
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 Ogee spillway design
• Thus ideal conditions for an ogee-shaped
spillway occur when the head is equal to the
design head for which the spillway has been
shaped.
• At the design head, it attains nearly the
maximum efficiency without any detrimental
effect.

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 Ogee spillway design
Shape of the crest of the overflow spillway The
shape of the ogee-shaped spillway depends
upon a number of factors such as
(1)head over the crest,
(2)height of the spillway above the stream bed or
the bed of the entrance channel and
(3)the inclination of the upstream face of the
spillway.

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 Ogee spillway design
• Downstream profile
• The d/s profile of the spillway can be represented
by the following general equation:
x^n = K(Hd)^(n-1) y
• where x and y are the coordinates of the point on
the spillway surface, with the origin at the highest
point 0 of the crest.
• Hd is the design head, excluding the head due to
the velocity of approach, and K and n are
constants, which depend upon the inclination of
the upstream face of the spillway. 18
Ogee spillway design

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 Ogee spillway design
• It may be noted that x is taken as positive
towards the downstream and
• y is taken as positive in the downwards
direction.
• The above equation is applicable only for the
positive values of x and y, and can be used to
obtain the crest shape downstream from the
origin of the coordinates.

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 Ogee spillway design
• The curved profile of the crest section is
continued till it meets tangentially the straight
sloping surface of the downstream face of the
overflow dam.
• The location of this point of tangency depends
upon the slope of the downstream face of the
overflow dam, which is determined from the
stability requirements of the overflow section.

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Ogee spillway design

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 Ogee spillway design
Upstream profile of the crest
(a)Vertical upstream face
• The upstream profile of the crest should be
tangential to the vertical face and
• Should have zero slope at the crest axis to
ensure that there is no discontinuity along the
surface of flow.

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Ogee spillway design

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 Ogee spillway design
The upstream profile should conform to the
following equation.
Y = [0.724(x+0.270Hd)^1.85]/(Hd)^0.85 +
0.126Hd – 0.4315(Hd^0.375)
(x+0.270Hd)^0625
• The values of x are negative according to the
chosen axes of coordinates.
• The maximum absolute value of x is 0.270 Hd,
for which the value of y is equal to 0126 Hd
when the u/s face is vertical. 25
 Ogee spillway design
• If the actual head is less than the design head,
the pressure on the crest will be positive (i.e.
above atmospheric).
• However, for heads greater than the design
head, the pressure on the crest will be negative
(i.e. less than the atmospheric pressure) and it
may lead to cavitation.
• Model tests have shown that the design head
may, however , be exceeded by 25 percent,
without any harmful cavitation.
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 Ogee spillway design
Discharge Computation for an Ogee Spillway
• The discharge over an ogee spillway is
computed from the basic equation of flow over
weirs, given below:
Q = Cd Le (He)^(1.5)
• where Q is discharge (cumecs),
• Cd is the coefficient of discharge,
• Le is the effective length and
• He is the actual effective head He = Hd + Ha
• Hd design head, Ha approach V head 27
 Ogee spillway design
1.Coefficient of discharge (Cd)
• An ogee spillway has a relatively high value of
the coefficient of discharge (Cd) because of its
shape.
• The maximum value of Cd is about 2.20, if no
negative pressure occurs on the crest.

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 Ogee spillway design
1.Coefficient of discharge (Cd)
• The value of Cd is not constant. It depends
(i) Upon the shape of the ogee profile,
(ii) Height of spillway crest above the stream bed
(iii) Ratio of actual total head to the design total
head.
(iV) Slope of the upstream face of spillway
(v) Extent of the downstream submergence of
crest
(vi) Downstream apron 29
 Factors affecting Cd
(i) Height of spillway above stream bed
• The height (P) of spillway above the stream
bed affects the discharge coefficient because
the velocity of approach depends upon this
height.
• With an increase in the height P, the velocity
of approach deceases but the coefficient of
discharge Cd increases.

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 Factors affecting Cd
(i) Height of spillway above stream bed
• It may be noted that there is a marked
increase in the value of Cd when the height of
spillway increases up to about twice of the
design total head HD.
• With further increase in the height of spillway,
there is not much increase in the value of Cd,
and it remains almost constant as 2.20.

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 Factors affecting Cd
(i) Height of spillway above stream bed
• The effect of velocity of approach on the
coefficient of discharge is negligible when the
height (P) is equal to or greater than 1.33 Hd,
– where Hd is the design head excluding the head due
the velocity of approach.
• Such spillways are known as high overflow
spillways, In high overflow spillways, the
velocity of approach is sometimes neglected.
• Thus He = Hd
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 Factors affecting Cd
(ii) Ratio of actual total head (He) to the design
total head (HD)
• It may be observed that with an increase in the
value of (He /Hd), the value of (Cd’/ Cd)
increases. Where Cd’ is for He
• The ratio (Cd’/ Cd) is less than unity for (He /HD)
less than unity but greater than unity for higher
values of (He /HD).
• Thus if the spillway is designed for a lower
design head, a high value of coefficient of
discharge Cd will be obtained 33
 Factors affecting Cd
(ii) Ratio of actual total head (He) to the design
total head (HD)
• However, the design head should not be less
than about 80 percent of the maximum head
(i.e. the maximum head should not be more
than 1.25 times the design head) to avoid the
possibility of cavitation.

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 Factors affecting Cd
(iii)Slope of the upstream face of spillway
• For small ratios of (P/HD) the actual coefficient
Cd’ is slightly more than the coefficient Cd for the
vertical face.
• However, as the ratio (P/HD) increases, the ratio
(Cd’ / Cd) decreases.

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 Factors affecting Cd
(iv) Extent of downstream submergence
• The actual coefficient of discharge Cd’ is
decreased due to downstream submergence,
• It may be noted that the effect of submergence
is negligible for smaller degree of
submergence.
• It is about 5% for the degree of submergence of
60%.

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 Factors affecting Cd
(v) Downstream apron
• When the value of (hd + d)/ HD exceeds about
1.70, the d/s floor apron has little effect on the
coefficient of discharge, but
• for lower value, the coefficient of discharge Cd
is lower.
• In this expression d is the tail water depth, and
hd is the depth of d/s water level below u/s TEL.
Thus
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Factors affecting Cd

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 Spillway Design
• Effective length of crest
• The effective length of crest of an overflow
spillway is given by
Le= L'-2(N Kp+ Ka )He
• where Le is the effective length of crest;
• L’ is the net (clear) length of crest, which is equal to the sum of
the clear spans of the gate bays between piers;
• He is the actual total head of flow on crest, including the head
due to velocity of approach;
• N is the number of piers,
• K a is the pier contraction coefficient and Kp is the abutment
contraction coefficient. 39
 Spillway Design
Pier contraction Coefficient
The value of the pier contraction coefficient Kp
depends upon several factors, such as
(i)shape and location of the pier nose,
(ii)thickness of pier,
(iii)the velocity of approach,
(iv) the ratio of actual total head on crest He to the
design head HD.

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 spillway
• Abutment contraction coefficient
• The value of the abutment contraction
coefficient Ka depends upon a number of
factors, such as
• (i) shape of abutment,
• (ii) the angle between the upstream approach
wall and the axis of flow,
• (iii)approach velocity and
• (iv) ratio of the actual head to design head.
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 spillway


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