Chapter 1

Dam Outlet Works

Introduction to dam appurtenant structures
 Bottom outlets
The design flood
Spillways
Cavitations
Sedimentation in reservoirs
 Introduction to dam appurtenant structures

Dam appurtenant structure: refers to any auxiliary structure

built alongside a primary dam, designed to facilitate the
controlled release of water from a reservoir, manage
floodwaters, or provide access for maintenance, essentially
acting as supporting components necessary for the efficient
operation of the dam system. Common examples include
spillways, outlet works, intake towers, and stilling basins.
 Introduction to dam appurtenant structures

Importance of dam appurtenant structure

a) Flood control: by safely releasing excess water during
flood events, appurtenant structures protect downstream
areas from inundation.
b) Water management: they allow for controlled release of
water for irrigation, hydropower generation, and other water
uses.
c) Operational efficiency: appurtenant structures provide
access points for maintenance and monitoring of the dam
system.
d) Dissipation of energy: protect downstream outlets from
erosion.
 Introduction to dam appurtenant structures

Types of dam appurtenant structure

Spillway: The primary safety feature, designed to discharge
excess water over the dam crest during high flow conditions.
Bottom outlet works: Structures that allow controlled release
of water from the reservoir at lower levels, often including
gates and regulating mechanisms.
Intake tower: A structure that allows water to be drawn from
the reservoir for diversion into canals or penstocks for power
generation.
Stilling basin: A downstream pool designed to dissipate the
energy of released water from a spillway or outlet, preventing
erosion
 Introduction to dam appurtenant structures

Design consideration
When designing appurtenant structures, engineers must
account for factors like
 flood magnitudes,
 water flow rates,
 sediment transport, and
 potential environmental impacts.
 Introduction to dam appurtenant structures

 An outlet in a dam 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.
 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.
 are usually situated at the top of the dam except tunnel spillway.
 Its design depends primarily on the:
 design flood

 dam type and location

 reservoir size and operation.

 Bottom outlet works
 The bottom outlet works serve to empty the reservoir (completely
or to a certain level) in case of need for repairs to the structures of
the hydraulic scheme or when there is danger of a failure of the
dam.
 In some cases, especially at smaller dams, the bottom outlet also
serves for discharging water from the reservoir to satisfy sanitary
and water management requirements downstream of the
hydraulic scheme.
 The construction and position of the bottom outlet depends on the
type of the dam, the purpose of the reservoir, and the quantity and
depositing of silt.
 The intake level of the outlet is most often dictated by the level of
the dead storage in the reservoir, i.e. by the conditions for
discharging the minimum quantity of water for satisfying the
biological minimum in the river downstream of the dam.
 Bottom outlet works
 The design of bottom outlet works depends primarily on the
purpose of the reservoir and the sediment inflow and deposition in
the reservoir. It can be classified as
i. River outlets: regulate flows to the river and control the water
level in the reservoir
ii. Irrigation, municipal water supply, etc outlets: control the flow of
water into the canal, pipeline, etc. to satisfy specified needs
iii. Power outlets: provide passage of water to the turbines for
generation of hydropower
General purpose of bottom outlets
 Filling or drawdown of the reservoir
 Flushing of sediments
 Flood and residual discharge diversion
 The design flood
 Flooding in an unobstructed stream channel is
considered a natural event for which no individual or
group is responsible. However, when obstructions are
placed across the channel, the project sponsors must
either ensure that hazards to downstream interests are
not appreciably increased or assume responsibility for
damages resulting from operation or failure of the
structures.
 Many failures of dams have been caused by improperly
designed spillways or by spill- ways of insufficient
capacity. Ample capacity is of paramount importance for
earthfill and rockfill dams, which are likely to be
destroyed if overtopped; whereas, concrete dams may
be able to withstand moderate overtopping.
 The design flood
 Design flood is the flood adopted for the design of a hydraulic
structure.
 It would be, obviously, very costly affair to design any hydraulic
structure so as to make it safe against the maximum flood
possible in the catchment.
 Smaller structures such as culverts, storm drainage systems
can be designed for relatively small floods (i.e., more frequent
floods) as the consequences of a higher than design flood may
only cause temporary inconvenience and some repair works
without any loss of life and property.
 However, failure of structures such as spillway would cause huge
loss of life and property and, therefore, such structures should be
designed for relatively more severe floods having relatively larger
return period.
 The design flood
PMF: (probable maximum flood) is the extreme large flood that is
physically possible in a region as a result of severe most (including
rare ones) combination of meteorological and hydrological factors.
SPF: (the standard project flood) is that would result from a severe
combination of meteorological and hydrological factors.
 Usually, SPF is about 40 to 60% of PMF.
 The PMF is used for structures such as dams, spillways etc.
whose failure would result in huge loss of life and property.
The design flood
 Flood Routing (Reservoir routing and stream routing)

Flood Routing: Flood routing is the process of determining the

reservoir stage, storage volume of the outflow hydrograph
corresponding to a known hydrograph of inflow into the reservoir.
 the capacity curve of the reservoir, i.e., ‘storage vs pool elevation’,
and ‘outflow rate vs. pool elevation’, curves are required.
 Storage volumes for different pool elevations are determined by
planimetering the contour map of the reservoir site.
 For example, the volume of water stored (V) between two successive
contours having areas A1 and A2 (planimetered) and the contour
interval d, is given by

 The prismoidal formula is more accurate

 Flood Routing (Reservoir routing and stream routing)

 The outflow rates are determined by computing the discharge

through the sluices and the spillway discharge for different
water surface elevations of the reservoir (i.e., pool elevations)

Use of flood routing:

 Flood forecasting
 Design of spillways, reservoirs & flood protection works
 Flood Routing (Reservoir routing and stream routing)

Flood Routing: converting the inflow hydrograph of the design

flood into the outflow.
 The change in storage ∆s of a reservoir depends on the
difference between the amount of inflow and outflow and
can be expressed by the equation,
- ∆s is the change in storage during time interval ∆t, and

- Qi and Qo are, respectively, the average rates of inflow and

outflow during the time interval ∆t.
- The rate of inflow at any time is obtained from the inflow
flood hydrograph (see Fig below)
The design flood
 The design flood
Procedures
i) Select a suitable time interval ∆t (Col. 2),
ii) Obtain inflow rates for different times from the inflow
hydrograph (Fig. above) and enter these values in Col. 3.
iii) Average inflow rates for time interval ∆t are entered in
Col. 4.
iv) Determine the amount of inflow volume in time and enter
the value in Col. 5.
v) Assume a trial reservoir water surface elevation (Col. 6).
vi) Obtain the rate of outflow (from Fig. above) for the
assumed trial reservoir water surface elevation and enter
its value in Col. 7.
vii) Obtain the average rate of outflow for the time interval
under consideration and enter this value in Col. 8.
 The design flood
Procedures
Viii) Obtain the amount of outflow volume in time ∆t and enter
the value in Col. 9.
ix) Obtain the change in storage ∆s by subtracting outflow
volume from inflow volume (Col. 10).
x) Add ∆s of Col. 10 to the total reservoir storage at the
beginning of the time interval (Col. 11).
xi) Determine the reservoir water surface elevation using Fig.
above and enter the same in Col. 12.
xii) Compare the reservoir water surface elevation (Col. 12)
with the trial reservoir water surface elevation (Col. 6). If
they do not match within specified accuracy, say 3cm,
make another trial and repeat until the agreement is
reached.
Solution
Spillway
 Spillways
 A spillway is the overflow portion of a dam,
over which surplus discharge flows from the
reservoir to the down-stream
 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
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
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;
Controlled Spillway
 Spillways
 In the case of gated spillway the gates may be
operated manually, by remote control, or
automatically, depending on the level of water in the
reservoir.
 Rigid control regulations are required for non-automatic
operation in order to prevent an artificial major flood
downstream and/or not to lose valuable water from the
reservoir.
 When controlling the reservoir outflow by spillway
gates prior to or during a flood period, reliable flood
forecasting methods have to be developed.
 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:
 Designing of the Crest of Ogee Spillway

Different u/s curves were given by WES for different slopes as

shown in Fig. below.
 Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway

The discharge passing over the ogee spillway is given

by the equation
Discharge formula for the Ogee Spillway
 Variation of Coefficient of Discharge
with Various Factors
i) Depth of approach: the coefficient of discharge firstly
depends up on the depth of approach.
 It depends up on the height of the ogee weir (h) to the
design head over the wier (Hd).
 If the height of the weir is more than 1.33 times the design
head, the velocity of approach has been found to have a
negligible effect upon discharge (Hd = He i.e He/Hd = 1).
Hence the coefficient of discharge is C = Cd = 2.2 in S.I
units
 In low spillways, with h/Hd <1.33; the appraoch velocity is

having an appreciable effect. The curve given in Fig. below

can be used in such cases, to evaluate the coefficient of
discharge C, using Cd = 2.2
Variation of Coefficient of Discharge
with Various Factors
 Variation of Coefficient of Discharge
with Various Factors
ii) Upstream Slope: the coefficient of discharge is also
affected by the slope of the U/S face of the ogee weir.
 The values of Cd and C found up to now were for a
vertical U/S face.
 If the U/S face is sloping, a correction factor by which

the above values of C should be multiplied can be

obtained from the curves given in Fig. below.
Variation of Coefficient of Discharge with Various Factors

iii) D/S apron interference and Submergence effects

When the tail water level is such that the top of the weir is
covered by it, such that the weir cannot discharge freely; the
weir is then said to be a Submerged weir.
Where the hydraulic jump occur, the coefficient of
discharge may decrease due to the back pressure effect of
the d/s apron & is independent of the submergence effect
Variation of Coefficient of Discharge with Various Factors
The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway
The Effect of length (Le) of Ogee Spillway
Side Channel Spillway

Side Channel Trough

 Description
 The control structure, i.e., the control weir, is placed approximately
parallel to the upper portion of the discharge channel.

Fig 2.32 Side Channel Spillway

 It has advantages that make it desirable for certain spillway layouts.

 where a long overflow crest is needed to limit the surcharge head and
the abutments are steep and precipitous, or
 where the control must be connected to a narrow discharge channel
or tunnel, the side channel spillway is often the best choice.
 The factor limiting its adoption is that this type of spillway is
hydraulically less efficient.
Hydraulics of Side Channel Spillway
Side channel spillways consists of three parts
 Low Ogee Weir(Ogee Crest Control Structure)
 Side Channel Trough and Control (Discharge Channel)
 Chute (Discharge Channel)

Low ogee weir

A

Low ogee spillway face

Side Channel Control Chute

B b
Channel Trough

A
Channel Trough
Section A-A
Fig 2.33 Side Channel Spillway Components
Exercise:
1. Design a suitable section for the overflow section of a
concrete gravity dam having the d/s face sloping at a 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
 Cavitations on Spillway Surface

 Surface roughnesses of a spillway causes separation of the

boundary layer from the surface, thereby forming a lower
pressure zone immediately downstream of the roughness.
 If the pressure in the wake region of the roughness falls to the
vapour pressure of water, vapour bubbles are formed and carried
downstream.
 When these bubbles reach a high pressure region, they suddenly
collapse giving rise to extremely high pressures. These extremely
high localized pressure cause damage to any surface adjacent to
the collapsing bubbles (or cavities).
 The continued process of this nature, named as cavitation pitting
or cavitation erosion, may cause serious damage to the structure
in due course of time
 Cavitations on Spillway Surface

 The flow velocities over the spillways of such projects often

exceed 30-40 m/s which are enough to cause cavitation pitting of
the normal concrete surface of the spillway
Methods of Prevention
 using cavitation resistant materials (such as steel lining, epoxy

concretes, epoxy mortars, and fibrous concrete) for the

construction of the surface
 adoption of specification criteria for limits of construction finish

 Aeration (more recently

 Reservoir sedimentation

is the gradual accumulation of the

incoming sediment load from a river.
This accumulation is a serious
problem in many parts of the world
and has severe consequences for
water management, flood control,
and production of energy.
Major cause of sedimentation: although erosion is natural, our
actions often accelerate this process. Human activities such
as urbanization, agriculture, and alteration of riparian and wetland
habitats have changed flow regimes, increasing the concentrations
and rates at which sediment enters streams and rivers.
 Sediment moves in the stream as suspended load (fine particles)
in the flowing water, and as bed load (large particles), which
slides or rolls along the channel bottom.
 Reservoir sedimentation

 As the silt originates from the water shed, the characteristics of

the catchment such its areal extent, soil types, land slopes,
vegetal cover and climatic conditions like temperature, nature and
intensity of rainfall, have a great significance in the sediment
production in the form of sheet erosion, gully erosion and stream,
channel erosion.
 The relation between the suspended-sediment transport Qs &
stream flow Q is given by:
 Qs = K when Q = 1 and m is the slope of the straight line plot and
it is 2 to 3
 The sediment rating curve from a continuous record of stream flow
provides a rough estimate of sediment inflow to reservoirs and the
total sediment transport may be estimated by adding 10-20% to the
suspended sediment transport to allow for the bed load contribution.
Reservoir sedimentation
 Reservoir sedimentation

 When the sediment-laden water reaches a reservoir, the velocity

and turbulence are greatly reduced.
 Smaller particles may be deposited near the base of the dam.
 Some of the density currents and settled sediments near the
base of the dam can possibly be flushed out by operating the
sluice gates.
 The modern multipurpose reservoirs are operated at various
water levels, which are significant in the deposition and
movement of silt in the reservoir.
 The total amount of sediment that passes
any section of a stream is referred to as the
sediment yield or sediment production.
 The mean annual sediment production rates
generally range from 250-2000 tons/km2
 Reservoirs are losing a storage capacity of
0.5-1% annually.
 Reservoir sedimentation

 The following figures give a general idea of the silt carried by

some of the big rivers in the world during floods:
 Reduction in reservoir capacity

 The useful life of a reservoir gets reduced due to sediment

deposition causing a decrease in its storage capacity.
 The factors affecting the pattern of sediment deposition in
reservoirs are:
 sediment load (i.e., sediment inflow rate)

 sediment size (i.e., gradation of silt)

 compaction of sediment
vegetal growth at the head
 river inflow pattern
outlets in the dam (their types, location
 river valley slope and size)
 shape of reservoir reservoir operation
 capacity of reservoir upstream reservoirs, if any.
(its size and storage period)
 Reduction in reservoir capacity

 The percent of the inflowing sediment, which is retained in a reservoir

is called the trap efficiency
 Trap efficiency is a function of the ratio of reservoir capacity to total
annual sediment Inflow.
 A small reservoir on a large stream passes most of its inflow quickly
(giving no
 time for the silt to settle) while a large reservoir allows more detention
time for the suspended silt to settle.
 The rate at which the capacity of a reservoir is reduced by sediment
deposition depends on
i) the rate of sediment inflow, i.e., sediment load.
ii) the percentage of the sediment inflow trapped in the reservoir,
i.e., trap efficiency.
iii) the density of the deposited sediment.
 Reservoir sedimentation control

 Sediment deposition in reservoirs can not be actually prevented but

it can be retarded by adopting some of the following measures:
a) Reservoir sites, which are prolific sources of sediment should be
avoided.
b) By adopting soil-conservation measures in the catchment area,
as the silt originates in the watershed.
c) Agronomic soil conservation practices like cover cropping, strip
cropping, contour farming, suitable crop rotations, application of
green manure (mulching), proper control over graze lands,
terracing and benching on steep hill slopes, etc. retard overland
flow, increase infiltration and reduce erosion.
d) Contour trenching and afforestation on hill slopes, contour
bunding gully plugging by check dams, and stream bank
stabilization by the use of spurs, revetments, vegetation, etc. are
some of the engineering measures of soil conservation.
 Reservoir sedimentation control

e) Vegetal cover on the land reduces the impact force of rain drops
and minimizes erosion.
f) Sluice gates provided in the dam at various levels and reservoir
operation, permit the discharge of fine sediments without giving
them time to settle to the bottom.
g) Sediment deposits in tanks and small reservoirs may be
removed by excavation, dredging, draining and flushing either by
mechanical or hydraulic methods and sometimes may have some
sales value.
Mitigation of reservoir sedimentation