Chapter 3

DAM APPURTENANT STRUCTURES

3.1 Dam Outlets Works

3.2 Spillway and Its Design Principles
3.3 Energy Dissipaters
DAM APPURTENANT STRUCTURES
Bottom Outlet Spillway
Spillway
 Dam Outlet Works
 Dam outlet is a combination of structures and equipment required for
the safe operation and control of water released from a reservoir to
serve different objectives.
 Outlets are classified according to the purpose they serve.
 River outlets

 Canal outlets (irrigation, municipal water supply & industrial outlets)

 Pressure pipe (power) outlets

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

Design Principles
 The spillway design depends primarily on the design flood, dam
type and location, topography and geology and reservoir size
and operation.
 Spillway can be constructed either as part of the main dam
or separate
 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
 Spillways and Its Design Principles
 A spillway is the overflow portion of a dam, over which
surplus discharge flows from the reservoir to the down-
stream
 A spillway can be located either within the body of the dam,
or at one end of it or entirely away from it, independently in
a saddle
 Spillways and Its Design Principles
Components of Spillway: Control, conveyance, terminal and
entrance and exit channels
a) Control structure:
 regulates and controls the outflow from the reservoir
 usually located at the u/s end of the spillway and consists of
some form of orifice or overflow crest. In some cases, however,
the control may be at the downstream end. For example, in a
‘morning glory’ spillway
 The crest can be sharp, broad, ogee-shaped, or of some other
cross-section.
 Similarly, orifice can have different shapes and may be placed in
a horizontal, vertical, or inclined position and can be sharp-
edged, round-edged or bell mouth-shaped.
 Spillways and Its Design Principles
b) Conveyance structure:
The outflow released through the control structure is usually conveyed
to the downstream river channel through a discharge channel or
waterway.
Free fall spillways, however, do not require any such conveyance
structure.
The conveyance structure can be the downstream face of the dam (if
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
usually provided so that the excess kinetic energy is dissipated, & to
avoid an objectionable scour near the toe of the dam.
d) Entrance and exit channel: Entrance channel conveys water from
the reservoir to the control structure while the exit channel conveys flow
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
Classification of 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;

 Spillways and Its Design Principles

Controlled Free/uncontrolled
Spillway Spillway
 Spillways and Its Design Principles
3) according to hydraulic criteria as:
 Free overfall (straight drop) spillway
 Overflow generally called Ogee Spillway
 side channel Spillway
 Chute Spillway
 Shaft Spillway (Morning Glory)
 Siphon and tunnel spillways.
 Cascade spillway
 Tunnel (conduit) spillway
 Types Spillways
1. Ogee spillway: has a control weir with ogee shape. Most
commonly used as the integral overflow section of a concrete or
a masonry dam and it is suited to wider valleys where sufficient
crest length may be provided.
 Types Spillways
2. Chute spillway: The chute spillway is adopted with earth-fill dams
because of: i) simplicity of their design and construction, ii) their
adaptability to all types of foundation ranging from solid rock to soft
clay, and iii) overall economy usually obtained by the use of large
amounts of spillway excavation for the construction of embankment.
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.
 Types Spillways
3. Side channel spillway: Suitable for earth or rock-fill dams in
narrow canyons and for other situations where direct overflow is
not permissible, where the space required for a chute spillway of
adequate crest length is not available and when a long overflow
crest is required.
 Types Spillways
4. Shaft spillway/Tunnel spillway: Used advantageously at dam sites in
narrow canyons where abutments rise steeply or where a diversion
tunnel or conduit is available for use as the downstream.
5. Siphon spillway: Used when there is a desire for an automatic
operation without mechanical parts and the discharge to be passed is
small.
 Types Spillways
6. Free over-fall spillway: Suitable for arch dams
7. Cascade Spillway: in case of very high dams (especially for high
earth and rockfill dams for which spillway is a major structure)
where the kinetic energy at the toe of the dam will be very high,
possibility of providing a cascade of falls with a stilling basin at
each fall must be considered.
 Ogee or Overflow Spillways

It is the most common type of spillway.

It has a control weir that is ogee or S-shaped.
It is a gravity structure requiring sound foundation and
is preferably located in the main river channel.

Fig. Sharp crested and Ogee profiles

 Ogee or Overflow Spillways
 The basic shape of the overfall (ogee) spillway is
derived from the lower envelope of the overall nappe
flowing over a high vertical rectangular notch with an
approach velocity V0= 0 and a fully aerated space
beneath the nappe (p=patm ).
 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.
Ogee or Overflow Spillways
 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
where:
 (x,y) are the coordinates of the point on the crest profile with
the origin at the highest point C of the crest, called the
apex,
 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
 Designing of the Crest of Ogee Spillway

 Thus, for a spillway having a vertical u/s face, the d/s crest is
given by the equation:
 According to the latest studies of U.S. Army Corps, the u/s
curve of the ogee spillway having a vertical face, should have
the following equation:
 Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway

The discharge passing over the ogee spillway is given

by the equation
Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway
The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway
The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway
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
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
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
works(Launching apron) and occupies a vital place in design
of spillways, weirs and barrages.
Purpose: to prevent erosion, abrasion of hydraulic structures,
generation of tail water waves or scouring.
Methods of Dissipating Energy
1) Hydraulic Jump type Stilling
Basin
•Horizontal apron type
•Sloping apron type
2) Bucket type energy dissipaters

3) USBR TYPE STILLING BASINS

1) For Froude's number between 1.7 and 2.5
 For this case only a horizontal apron needs to be provided.
 As the flow in this case does not have much turbulence usually
no accessories are required to be provided.
 However, the apron should be sufficiently long to contain the
entire jump over it.
Length of apron = Length of jump = 5 Y2,
where Y2 is the sequent depth
2) USBR Stilling Basin II
This is used when the velocity of the incoming flow exceeds 15 m/s
(Froude number is greater than 4.5), or when baffle blocks are not to be
used (see fig. below).
The basin length is bound to be longer than required for Type III basin.

2) USBR Stilling Basin III
Of the different types of USBR stilling basins, Type III (see fig. below) is
commonly used.
This basin is suitable when the Froude number of the incoming flow


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.
Energy Dissipation Below Overflow Spillway