GANDHINAGAR INSTITUTE

OF TECHNOLOGY

Irrigation Engineering

“Weir & Barrage”

What is WEIR ?
• Weir is a solid obstruction put across the river to raise
water level and divert the water into canal .
• If water is store for a small period of short supplies it is
called storage weir.
• The main difference between a storage weir and a dam
I only in height and duration for which the supply is
stored.
• A dam stores the supply for comparatively longer
duration.
 What is diversion head work ?

• It is a one type of structure, constructed

across the river to raise water level in river
and divert the required quantity to the canal.
 Cont...
• A weir is a structure constructed across a river to raise its
water level and divert the water into the canal....and it is a
part of diversion head work

Weir
 Masonry
weir with
vertical
drop

Types Rock fill

weir with
f sloping
aprons
weirs

Concrete
weirs with a
downstream
glacis
  Masonry weir with vertical drop

• This type of weir is suitable for any

type of foundation.

• This type of weir is very old so it is

design on the base on Bligh’s
theory.

• Example : Bhimgoda weir across

Ganga near Haridwar
  Rock fill weir with sloping aprons

• This type of construction is very

simple and its stability is not
amenable to extract theoretical
treatment.

• But it requires large quantity of

stone.

• Example ; Okhala weir, across

Yamuna River Delhi
  Concrete weirs with a sloping glacis
 It is relatively new of its kind.
 It has slope at both the u/s and
d/s sides.
 Sheet piles are at u/s as well as
d/s of weir, up to maximum
scour depth.
 This type of weirs may be
constructed on pervious
foundation.
 Causes of
failure of weirs

Due to Due to
subsurface
flow Surface flow

By uplift By scour
By piping By suction
pressure effect
 Remedies for failure due to
• Due to Piping or undermining

1. Providing sufficient length of impervious floor so that path of

percolation is increased and exit gradient is decreased.

2. Providing sheet piles at the d/s and u/s ends of impervious

floor.
 Cont...
• Due to uplift pressure

1. Providing sufficient thickness of the impervious floor.

2. Providing sufficient length of impervious floor

3. Providing pile at u/s end of impervious floor so as to reduce

uplift pressure at d/s.
 Cont...
• Due to surface flow

1. Providing additional thickness of impervious floor to counter

balance the suction pressure due to standing wave.

2. Constructing floor as monolithic concrete mass instead of

different layers of masonry.
 Cont...
• Due to scour

1. Providing deep piles at u/s &d/s end of imperious floor up to a

depth much below calculated scour depth.

2. Providing launching aprons of suitable length and thickness at

u/s & d/s end of impervious floor.
 Barrage
• The function of barrage is similar to that of weir but the heading up
of water is effected by the gate alone.

• No solid obstruction is put across the river. The crest level in the
barrage is kept at low level.

• During the floods the gates are raised to clear off the high flood
level, enabling the high flood to pass downstream with minimum
afflux.
Barrage
 Cont...
• When flood recedes the gates are lowered and flow is obstructed,
thus raising water level to upstream of barrage.

• Due to this less silting and better control over the levels.

• How ever barrage are more costlier then weir.

Different parts of barrage
 Cont...

• An artificial barrier across a river to prevent flooding ,aid irrigation or

navigation or to generate electricity by tidal power.

• A barrage is a type of low head , diversion work which consist of

number of large gates that can be opened or closed to control the
amount of water passing through it, thus regulates elevation of water
in irrigation system.

• Barrage word is borrowed from French word meaning dam.

 Cont...

• Key difference between barrage and dam is that a dam is built for
water storage in a reservoir, which raise the level of water
significantly.

• A barrage is built for diverting water and raise its level for few feet,
they are generally built on flat terrain across wide rivers.
Thank you