CE311 – Hydraulic Engineering & Design

Spillways
Spillways:
A spillway is the overflow portion of the dam, over which surplus
discharge
g flows from the reservoir to the downstream.

It is designed to carry flood water not required to be stored in the

reservoir, safely to the river downstream of the dam.

Many failures of dams have been caused by;

- improperly designed spillways or
- spillways of insufficient capacity

Spillway is a safety value of a dam.

 Reservoir
Spillway
p y
Dam

Bottom outlet
Control Section

Discharge Channel

Two main types:

– Unregulated
– Regulated
g
 Samanawewa Spillway

Spillway Component Function
Entrance Channel Conveys water from the reservoir to the control section
Control Section Regulates volume of releases
Water Conveyance
Water Conveyance Conveys flows from control section over, through or around 
Conveys flows from control section over through or around
the dam; may be a channel, conduit, or tunnel
Energy Dissipation Section Reduces the energy and velocity of the flowing water
Return Channel Conveys discharge to the natural stream channel 
downstream from the dam
Kotmale Spillway
 Randenigala dam

Spillway
 Types of Spillways

i. Free over fall or Straight drop spillway

ii. Ogee spillway or Overflow spillway
iii. Side channel spillway
iv. Chute or Open channel spillway
v. Shaft or Morning glory spillway
vi. Siphon spillway
vii. Labyrinth spillway
 i Free
i. F over fall
f ll or Straight
St i ht drop
d spillway
ill
- Simplest type of spillway
- Downstream face either vertical or nearly vertical
vertical.
- Water drops freely

To divert the small

discharge away from the
face of the overflow
Sound rock section

Sound rock
ii. Ogee spillway or Overflow spillway
- Most common type of spillway provided on gravity dams.
- Profile is ‘Ogee’ shape (inverted S shape).
- The overflowing water is guided smoothly over the crest
and profile of the spillway so that the overflow water
does not break contact with the spillway surface.
If this is not assured, a vacuum may form at the point of
separation and cavitation may occur.
Overflow spillway
(Ogee spillway)
without gates

Kala wewa
Kala Wewa Spillway
G t d section
Gated ti – Two
T radial
di l gates
t
 Ogee Spillway with
radial gated

Moussakele Dam
Concrete gravity dam
Length = 187.5 m;  Height = 41.2 m;  Storage = 115 MCM
 iii. Side channel spillway
A side channel spillway is the one
in which the flow,
flow after passing
over a weir or ogee crest, is
carried away by channel running
essentially
ti ll parallel
ll l tto the
th crest.
t
- Suitable for earth/ rockfill dams
in narrow canyons
y (direct
(
overflow is not permissible).
- This type of spillway is also the
b t choice
best h i where h a llong
overflow crest is desired in
order to limit the surcharge
head.
Maduru oya spillway
 iv Chute or Open channel spillway
iv.
A chute spillway is the one which passes the
surplus discharge through a steep sloped open
channel, placed along a dam abutment.
- it is g
generally
ypprovided for earth/rockfill dams
(completely isolated from the main dam)
 v
v. Shaft or Morning glory spillway
It is one which has horizontally positioned lip through which water enters
and then drops through a vertical or sloping shaft
shaft, and then to horizontal
conduit which convey the water pass the dam.

A shaft spillway can often be

used where there is inadequate
space for other type of spillways.
Bell‐Mouth Spillways
General view of the modified morning–
glory
l spillway.
ill
 vi.
i Siphon
Si h spillway
ill
A siphon spillway is the one which utilizes the siphonic action to
discharge the surplus water.

Generally it consists of a closed conduit system formed in the shape of

an inverted U, positioned so that inside of the bend of the upper
passageway is at normal reservoir level.

When the water level in the

reservoir rises above its
normal level
level, water flows over
the crest, and then siphonic
action takes place.
vii. Labyrinth Spillway
Labyrinth spillway