Tail Escape

Road

Waterway

Water Body

 Tail escape is a structure constructed

at the end of a waterway to evacuate

the water to a water body.
Tail escape consists of a well where
its crest level at the high water level.
It is also equipped with an orifice at
its bottom to evacuate all the water
in 24 hrs if necessary.
A pipe evacuates the water to the
water body under the road.

Road
D

d
do

Tail Escape

Hydraulic Design
Hydraulic design of the tail escape

consists of three parts:

1. Automatic evacuation (Weir)
2. Controlled evacuation (Orifice)
3. Discharging to Sea
(Pipe)

1. Automatic Evacuation:
The excess water is evacuated over
the weir's crest.
The maximum acceptable rise in
water level is 25 cm.
the discharge of water over the weir
can be calculated as follows:
Qw = T s . h . V s

Where:
Qw is the weirs discharge in m3/sec,
Ts is the top width of the water
surface in m,
h is the rise in water level =0.25 m,
Vs is the surface water velocity in
m/sec.
Vs = 1.17 vw

Where vw is the mean water velocity of

the water way.
Ts
25 cm
H.W.L.

To design the size of the well, the weir

equation is used,
2
Qw Cd B 2 g h1.5
3

Where
Cd is the discharge coefficient =
0.55,
B is the crest length, and
3
B D
4

2. Controlled Evacuation:
Orifice is designed to evacuate the
waterway in 24 hrs. The following
equation is used to determine the
size of the orifice,
T

2( Lbe y )
C d a 2 gy

Where:
T is the time to empty the waterway
= 24 . 60 .60 sec

L is the waterway length in m,

be is the waterway average width in
m,
y is the depth of the waterway,
Cd is the discharge
coefficient = 0.6
T
s

H.W.L.
be
y
b

a is the area of the orifice in m2

and,
2
a

do

Notice: The orifice is equipped with a

gate so the water in the waterway
can be used for any purpose. The
gate is open to evacuate the water if
needed.

3. Pipe:
The pipe is designed to the
maximum discharge for emergency
as:

Q p Qw Qo

Where:
Qp is the pipe discharge,
Qo is the orifice discharge

Qo C d a 2gh0

Where:

ho y 0.25

And,
2
Qp Vp D
4

Where Vp is the pipe velocity (2.0

m/sec) and D is the pipe diameter.

 Example:
A tail escape is required to be
constructed at the end of a waterway
according to the following data;
Q = 4.6 m3/sec, Waterway length
= 3000 m, Vc=0.45 m/sec
m 7.6

m 5.8

m4

m 1.8

 Sol.
a. Automatic evacuation
Qw= 7.6 * 0.15 * (1.17*0.45)
= 0.6 m3/sec
0.6 =
(2/3)*0.55*B*(2*9.81)*(0.15)1.5
B = 6.36 m
D = 2.7 m
b. Controlled Evacuation
T = 24*60*60

a = 0.2 m2
do= 0.5 m
c. Pipe
Qp=Qw+Qo
Qo=0.6*0.2*(2*9.81*2.05)
= 0.76 m3/sec
Qp= 1.36 m3/sec
Assume Vp= 2 m/sec

1.36 = 2 * Ap
D = 0.93 m take D = 1.0 m
Vp= 1.73 m/sec