UNIT FOUR

Dams and spill ways

Dams is an obstruction across a river to create a reservoir for impounding, store, divert,
distribute and transport water.
Advantages of dams Disadvantage of dams
 Irrigation Cultural consequences
 Water supply Expensive to built
 Used for electricity generation Large dams cause geological damage
 Flood control Environmental changes
 Recreation
 Navigation.
Selection site for dams
 Topography: - surface configuration
 Suitable foundation
 Good site for storage: - storage capacity, shape of flow of water, flow capacity.
 Spill way size and location
 Availability of materials for construction
 Overall cost
 Climate conditions
 Roadway
 Length and height of dams
 Earth quake hazards
 Environmental considerations
Types of dams
May be classified in various ways such as
i) Based on their function as
 Storage dam :- has large capacity of storage
 Diversion dam: - raise level of water by diverting the water.
 Detention dam :- temporary storage of water to avoid flood
 Debris dam :- allow clear water to pass through by restricting debris
 Coffer dam :- a barrier constructed across the structure
ii) Based on shape

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  Rigid and non - rigid
iii) Based on materials of construction
Masonry dam, concrete dam, earth dam, rock fill dam, timber dam, rubber
dam, and steel dam.
iv) Based on structure design
Gravity dam, earth dam, rock fill dam, arch dam, buttress dam,
v) Based to hydraulic feature
 Non-overflow dams: - on top of which water is not allowed to flow.
 Over flow dams: - water is allowed to flow over the dam crest.

Introduction
Spillways
 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 measures against overtopping and
the consequent damages and failure. Spillway is thus safety valve for a dam.
REQUIREMENTS OF A SPILLWAY
1. The spillway must have sufficient capacity.
2. It must be hydraulically and structurally adequate.
3. It must be so located that it provides safe disposal of water.
4. The bounding surfaces of spillway must be erosion resistant.
5. Energy dissipater should be located in downstream side of the spillway for dissipation
of energy.
LOCATION OF SPILLWAY
• Within the body of the dam
• At one end of dam.
• Entirely away from it, independently in a saddle.
Required spillway capacity
• Required spillway capacity is determined by flood routing.
• Spillway capacity should be equal to the maximum outflow rate determined by flood
routing.

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It requires the following data:
i) Inflow hydrograph (plot of rate of inflow Vs time)
ii) Reservoir capacity curve (reservoir storage Vs reservoir water surface elevation)
iii) Discharge curve (rate of outflow through spillway Vs reservoir water surface elevation)
FACTORS AFFECTING THE REQUIRED SPILLWAY CAPACITY
1. Inflow flood hydrograph
2. Available storage capacity
3. Capacity of outlets
4. Gates of spillways
5. Possible damage, if the capacity is exceeded
COMPONENT PARTS OF SPILLWAY
 Approach channel
 Control structure
 Discharge carrier
 Discharge channel
 Energy dissipaters

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Approach channel
 Entrance structure or the path to draw water from reservoir and convey it to the
control structure.
 It may be straight or curved in plan.
 Its banks may be parallel, convergent, divergent or combination of these and may
be vertical or sloping.
 It may insure minimum head loss through the channel and to obtain uniformity of
flow over the control structure.

Control structure
Major component of spillway provided with bridge and gates.
Regulates and controls the surplus water from the reservoir.
It does not allow discharge of water below the fixed reservoir level.

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Discharge carrier
It is the waterway provided to convey the flows released from the control structure to the
downstream side of spillway.
The cross section may be rectangular, trapezoidal or of other shape.
Waterway may be wide or narrow, long or short.

Discharge channel
Provide to convey the water from bottom of the discharge carrier to the downstream
flowing river.
It may be the downstream face of spillway itself.
The width of discharge channel depends on amount of water to be conveyed.

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Terminal structures (or energy dissipators):
Provided on downstream for dissipating the high energy of the flow, before the flow is
returned to the river.
TYPES OF SPILLWAYS
Spillways can be classified into different types based on various criteria:
A. Classification based on purpose
1. Main or service spillway 2. Auxiliary spillway 3. Emergency spillway
B. Classification based on control
1. Controlled or gated spillway 2. Uncontrolled or ungated spillway
C. Classification based on prominent feature
1. Free overfall (or straight drop) 2. Overfall (or ogee spillway)
3. Chute (or open channel or trough) 4. Side channel spillway
5. Shaft which (or morning glory) 6. Siphon
7. Conduit (or tunnel) 8.baffled chute spillway
9. Cascade spillway
Classification based on purpose
• Main spillway
A main (or service) spillway is the spillway designed to pass a prefixed or the design flood.
This spillway is necessary for all dams and in most of the dams, it is the only spillway.
• Auxiliary spillway
It is provided as a supplement to the main spillway and its crest is so located that it comes
into operation only after the floods for which the main spillway is designed are exceeded.

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Total spillway capacity (Q) = Qm + Qa , Where Q is the designed flood,
Qm is the capacity of main spillway,
Qa is the capacity of the auxiliary spillway
• Emergency spillway
It is provided in addition to the main spillway but it comes into operation only during
emergency which may arise at any time.
Classification based on control
• Controlled spillway
A controlled spillway is one which is provided with the gates over the crest to control the
outflow from the reservoir. In the controlled spillway, the full reservoir level (F.R.L) of the
reservoir is usually kept at the top level of the gates. Thus the water can be stored up to the
top level of the gates.
• Uncontrolled spillway
In an uncontrolled spillway the gates are not provided over the crest to control the outflow
from the reservoir. The full reservoir level (F.R.L) is at the crest level of the spillway. The
water escapes automatically when the water level rises above the crest level.
Classification based on prominent feature
1. Free overfall or straight drop spillway:
 In this type of spillway, the water freely drops down from the crest. It is a low weir
and simple vertical fall type structures.
 The water falls freely from the crest under the action of gravity.
 To prevent scouring at the downstream, an auxiliary dam of artificial pool is to be
constructed at the place of fall of water.
 This type of spillway is not recommended for high head since the vibrations of
falling jet might damage the structure.
 To direct the small discharge away from the face of the overfall section the crest is
extended to form overhanging clip

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2. Ogee or overflow spillway
 It represents the S-shape curve so, it is called ogee spillway.
 It is an improved form of straight drop spillway.
 It is mainly used in gravity dams.
 It has got the advantage over other spillways for its high discharging efficiency.
 The overflow water is guided smoothly over the crest so that water do not break the
contact with the spillway surface.

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3. Side channel spillway
 The flow in this spillway is turned 90 ̊ after passing the crest such that the flow is
parallel to the weir crest.
 Best suitable for non-rigid dams like earthen dams.
 It is preferred where space is not available for providing sufficient crest width for
chute spillway.
 The discharge carrier may be an open channel type or a conduit type.

4. Chute (or open channel or trough)

 It is often called as trough or open channel spillway.
 For earthen and rock fill dams, spillway is to be constructed separately away from
the main valley.
 Chute Spillway is the simplest type of a spillway which can be easily provided
independently and at low costs.
 It is lighter and adaptable to any type of foundations.

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5. Shaft which (or morning glory)
 The water from the reservoir enters into a vertical shaft which conveys this water
into a horizontal tunnel which finally discharges the water into the river
downstream.
 This type of spillway is preferred where the space is not available for providing the
above type of spillways
 If the inlet leg is provided in shape of a funnel, it is called Morning Glory Spillway.
 It has maximum discharge even at low heads.
 In the site of shaft spillway
 Seismic action should be small,
 Stiff geologic formation should be available, and
 Possibility of floating debris is relatively small

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6. Siphon
 It works on the principle of syphonic action.
 It consists of a syphon pipe whose inlet leg is kept just below the normal pool level
and an air vent kept at normal pool level is connected to the crown of syphon.
 When the water raises the pool level, syphonic action starts automatically and the
water discharges to downstream side.
 When the water level falls below the pool level, air is entered through air vent and
the discharging of water stops.

7. Conduit (or tunnel)

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 A conduit Spill-way consist of a closed conduit to carry the flood discharge to the
downstream channel. It is constructed in the abutment or under the dam.
 The closed conduit may take the form of a vertical or inclined shaft, a horizontal
tunnel, or a conduit constructed in an open cut and then covered.
 To ensure the free flow in the tunnel, the ratio of flow area to total tunnel area is
often limited to 75%of air vents are provided.
 Such a spill-way is suitable for dam sites in narrow canyons with steep abutments.

8. Baffled Chute Spillways

 A baffled chute spillway is composed of a chute whose surface is covered by a
number of densely spaced baffle blocks.
 The baffle blocks dissipate the kinetic energy of the flowing water effectively.
 A separate stilling basin is not required.
 Special design is needed to maintain sufficiently small velocities at the entrance of
a chute.

9. Cascade Spillways

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 Cascade or stepped spillway are recently used as alternative to the conventional
overflow spillways for small to medium discharges.
 The spillway is composed of series of steps where excessive energy of the flow is
dissipated.
 Shorter stilling basin is required compare to the conventional overflow spillway.
 The spillway face requires higher sidewalls due to the increased turbulence over
the steps.
 Details of the performance of such structures needed to be investigated through
hydraulic

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