Course Coverage

Hydropower Engineering
Chapter 7, 8

Pokhara University
Hydropower_RITZ By: Pawan Sharma 10/20/2023 1

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 Ch 7. Spillways and energy
dissipaters

Spillway is a structure provided for effective disposal of surplus

water over or around a dam
Normally, the excess water is drawn from the top of reservoir
and conveyed through a constructed waterway back to the rover
or to some natural drainage channel. A spillway can be located
either within the dam body or at one end of it or entirely away
from the dam, independently in a saddle. Due to high velocity
of spilling water, some form of energy dissipation should be
provided at the base of spillway.
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 Upper Bhotekoshi-Nepal

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 Middle Marshyandi-Nepal

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 Banja Dam in Albania

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 Functions of spillway

• To dispose off surplus water safely to downstream

even during the time of worst flood period
• To prevent the water level from rising beyond the
maximum reservoir level
• To provide structural stability to dam under all
conditions
• Flow control from upstream to downstream
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 Types of spillway

1. Straight drop spillway (free over fall)

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• A Straight drop spillway consists of low height weir wall
having its downstream face roughly or perfectly vertical. When
the water level in the reservoir rises above the normal pool
level, the surplus water falls freely from the crest of the weir
and hence it is known as Straight drop spillway or free
overfall.
• To prevent the scouring of downstream bed from falling water
jet, an artificial pool with a concrete apron and low secondary
dam is constructed on the downstream side. Proper ventilation
should be provided on the underside portion of a falling jet to
prevent pulsating and fluctuating effects.
• Sometimes, an overhanging projection is provided on the crest
of the weir to prevent the entrance of small discharges onto the
face of the weir wall. Straight drop spillways are most suitable
for thin arch dams, earthen dams or bunds.
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Straight Drop Spillway

 2. Ogee spillway (overflow
spillway)

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• Ogee spillway, as the name says, represents the shape of the
downstream face of the weir. It is an improved form of a straight
drop spillway. In this case, the downstream face of the weir is
constructed corresponding to the shape of lower nappe of freely
falling water jet which is in ogee shape.
• The ogee shape of the downstream face is designed on the basis of
the principle of a projectile. In general, the shape of lower nappe of
the water jet is not constant for all water heads hence, the shape
obtained for the maximum head is taken into account while
designing ogee spillway.
• Whenever there is surplus water, it will be freely disposed of through
ogee spillway along its ogee shaped crest hence it can also be called
as an overflow spillway. Ogee spillways are most commonly used in
case of gravity dams, arch dams, buttress dams, etc. For gravity
dams, it is generally located within the dam body.
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Ogee Spillway of Walayar dam, India

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 3. Chute spillway

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• Chute spillway is a type of spillway in which surplus water from
upstream is disposed to the downstream through a steeply sloped
open channel. It is generally constructed at one end of the dam or
separately away from the dam in a natural saddle in a bank of the
river.
• Chute spillway is suitable for gravity dams, earthen dams, rockfill
dams, etc. But it is preferred when the width of the river valley is
very narrow. The water flows along the steeply sloped chute or
trough or open channel and reaches the downstream of the river.
Chute spillway is also called as trough spillway or open channel
spillway.
• The slope of chute spillway is designed in such a way that the flow
should be always in supercritical condition. To dissipate energy from
the falling water, energy dissipators can be provided on the bed of
chute spillway.

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Chute Spillway, Tehri Dam, India

 4. Side channel spillway

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Side channel spillway is similar to chute spillway but the
only difference is the crest of side channel spillway is
located on one of its sides whereas crest of chute spillway
is located between the side walls. In other words, the water
spilling from the crest is turned to 90 degrees and flows
parallel to the crest of side channel spillway unlike in chute
spillway.
Side channel spillways are preferred over chute spillways
when flanks of sufficient width are not available, usually to
avoid heavy cutting. The angle of turn of water flow after
passing weir crest can also be kept between 00 and 900.

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 Side Channel Spillway of Hoover Dam, USA
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 5. Shaft Spillway (Drop Spillway)

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• A Shaft spillway is a type of spillway which consists of a vertical
shaft followed by a horizontal conduit. The surplus water enters
into the vertical shaft and then to the horizontal conduit and
finally reaches the downstream of the channel.
• The shaft constructed is either artificial or natural. Excavation for
the natural shaft is possible only when the hard rocky layer is
present on the upstream side. The horizontal conduit either
passes through the dam body or through the foundation of the
dam.
• In the case of large projects, the inlet hole of the vertical shaft is
specially shaped which is called as morning glory or glory hole
of the spillway. Hence, shaft spillway is also called as Morning
glory spillway or Bell Mouth spillway. Shaft spillway is
recommended when there is no space to provide for other types
of spillways such as ogee spillway, straight drop spillway, etc.
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Monticello Dam Morning Glory Spillway-California
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 6. Siphon Spillway

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A siphon spillway is a type of spillway in which surplus water is
disposed to downstream through an inverted U shaped conduit. It is
generally arranged inside the body or over the crest of the dam.
In both types of siphon spillways, air vents are provided at the bent
portion of the upper passageway to prevent the entrance of water
when the water level is below the normal poll level. Whenever the
level rises above normal pool level, water enters into the conduit
and is discharged to the downstream of the channel by siphonic
action.
The inlet is generally placed well below the Full Reservoir Level to
prevent entrance of drifting materials and to avoid the formation of
vortices and draw downs which might break siphonic action. Great
advantage of this spillway is its positive and automatic operation
without mechanical devices and moving parts.

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 Siphon Spillway

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 7. Saddle spillway

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• When a natural depression or saddle exists in the
dam basin, especially in earthen dam, saddle spillway
is provided in natural depression. It is essential that
the bottom of depression is at full reservoir level and
the saddle should be on firm rock.

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Main Dam and Saddle dam of GERD (Poindexter, 2017).
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 8. Emergency spillway

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• It is provided in addition to main spillway. It comes in
operation only during emergency. When incoming discharge
exceeds the maximum flood discharge or when the gate of
spillway malfunctions in case of flood, this spillway comes in
action. The crest level of this spillway is higher than normal
water level and comes in action when water level reaches to
some alert level.
• an emergency spill-way, at higher elevation that the service
spill-way, but lower than the dam crest. The emergency spill-
way is a “last ditch” protection against over-top. Over-top is a
potential cause for dams’ breaches. It leads escaping waters to
the natural slope below the dam toe, where natural soil,
vegetation is present, in such a way that escaping waters will
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their way back to the river. 33
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Germany, Rurseesperre Emergency spillway Rursee

 Labyrinth Spillway

• A labyrinth spillway is a type of spillway in which the

weir wall is constructed in a zigzag manner in order
to increase the effective length of the weir crest with
respect to the channel width. This increase in
effective length raises the discharge capacity of the
weir and hence higher water flow at small heads can
be conveyed to the downstream easily.

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Labyrinth spillway of Lake Brazos Dam, United States

 Cavitation and preventive
measures

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• The crest of ogee spillway is designed to confirm one particular
nappe formed by corresponding design head of spillway. But in
actual practice, the actual head may be more or less than the
design head. When head is greater than the design head, the
lower nappe of flowing jet would detach from the spillway
surface, thereby generating negative pressure at the point of
separation.
• The generation of vacuum or negative pressure may lead to the
formation of bubbles or cavities in the water. These cavities or
bubbles are filled up with air, vapour or other gases. As vapour
bubbles or cavities move with flowing water into a region of high
pressure, the cavities resulting in implosions. The continuous
bombardment of these implosions with high pressure will take
place near the surface of spillway causing fatigue failure of its
materials. The particles of masonry get broken away causing
formation of small pits on its surface, which is called pitting.
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• The cavitation plus vibration from alternative making and
breaking of contact between water and ogee surface may result in
serious structural damages to the spillway crest. Cavitation can be
controlled to some extent by supplying air within the flow at
location where cavitation might take place and by providing
smooth flow curve surface with high strength cavitation resistive
materials.
• Preventive measures against cavitation damage may include:
a) Use of surface finishes so that water can flow smoothly
b)Use of construction materials which are resistant to cavitation
damage
c) Admission or supply of air into the flowing water

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 Energy Dissipaters

• Water flowing over a spillway has a very high kinetic

energy because of the conversion of potential energy to
kinetic energy. If the water flowing with such high
velocity is discharged directly into the channel
downstream, serious scour of the channel bed near the
dam toe may take place. If the scour is not properly
controlled, it may extend backward and may endanger the
spillway and the dam. In order to protect the channel bed
against scour, the kinetic energy of water should be
dissipated before it is discharged into the d/s channel.
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 1.0 Stilling basin

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• Stilling basin is defined as a structure in which energy is
dissipated by generating a controlled hydraulic jump to transition
flow from supercritical to subcritical within the basin over entire
range of flow conditions. It helps in dissipating energy of flow
by offering resistance to flow and stabilizes the flow within a
shorter length of basin, thus affecting economy.

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i. Chute blocks
These are rows of small projections like teeth of row or simple
concrete blocks built in the inclined section of the spillway. These are
normally placed at the entrance of stilling basin to create turbulence
prior to the hydraulic jump. The incoming water is furrowed and
partly lifted from the floor, producing shorter length of jump.
ii. Baffle blocks
They are blocks placed within the basin, across the basin floor. They
help in formation of hydraulic jump, reduce its length, decrease the
required sequent depth for given discharge condition and provide
stability to jump. They break the flow and dissipate energy mostly by
impact. However, baffle blocks are not suitable for high velocity flow
because of possibility of cavitation.
iii. End sills/ dentated sills
Dentated sill is provided at the end of stilling basin. They help in
diffusing residual portion of high velocity jet and in reducing the
length of jump and hence of the basin.
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 2.0 Ski-jump bucket type
dissipater

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• When tail water depth is insufficient or low at all discharges
and thus inadequate for the formation of hydraulic jump, a ski
jump bucket is generally used as an energy dissipater. The
incoming jet of water shoots out of the bucket as a free
discharging upturned jet and falls harmlessly into the river, at
some distance downstream of the bucket. This type of
dissipater requires sound and rocky river bed, because a part of
energy dissipation takes place by impact, although some of the
energy is dissipated in air by diffusion and aeration, or more
clearly by increased air resistance. This type of dissipater is
particularly used for arch dams.

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Srisailam -Andhra Pradesh

 3.0 Roller bucket type energy
dissipater

Roller bucket is a spoon type structure at the toe of spillway. It consists of an apron,
which is upturned sharply at ends as shown in figure. When high velocity water slides
down the spillway slope, it gets arrested by tail water. This gives rise to a surface
roller on the bucket surface (anticlockwise) and bottom roller moving in clockwise
direction immediately downstream of the bucket and eddy turbulence accompanied
by energHHydropower_Ritz
yydrdopioswseri_pNaCItTion.The bottom roller tends to move the scoured b1/e20d/20m22ater5i500als
towards the dam, thus preventing serious scour at toe of dam.
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Energy Dissipater based on curve
between Discharge Vs Tail water
depth
If a graph is plotted between a specific intensity (q=Q/B)
verses tail water depth (TWL), the curve obtained is called
tail water curve (TWC). Similarly, if a curve plotted on the
same graph between q and y2 (sequent depth or post jump
depth), the curve obtained is called jump height curve
(JHC) or y2 curve. For a particular site, the type of energy
dissipater and its arrangement is decided based on the
relationship between height of hydraulic jump (y2) and tail
water depth (y0). For this, following cases shall be
considered.
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 Case I: TWC curve coincides with y2
curve at all discharges (y0 = y2)

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When tail water depth is exactly equal to sequent depth (y2), a
perfect hydraulic jump is formed at the toe of spillway. This is
highly idealized condition and rarely occurs. In such case, a
horizontal apron stilling basin is generally sufficient to dissipate
energy.

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 Case II: When TWC lies above y2 curves
at all discharges (y0 > y2)

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In this case, y2 is always below tail water depth and hence jump
formed gets drowned out or submerged by tail water and only
little energy will be dissipated. This usually occurs when the
river cross section on downstream of spillway is narrow. The
problem can be solved by constructing sloping apron stilling
basin or by providing a roller bucket type energy dissipater.
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 Sloping Apron type

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 Case III: When TWC lies below y2
curves at all discharges (y0 < y2)

Here, tail water depth is always below sequent depth. The high velocity jet
would sweep down the toe and scour the river bed. Such condition occurs
when tail water is carried away quickly due to a fall on downstream. As tail
water depth is insufficient for the formation of hydraulic jump, energy
dissipaHHydropower_Ritz
tyidoropnowien
r_Nt
ChITis case shall be achieved by following ways. 1 /20/2022 58
i. Horizontal apron stilling basin with apron
depressed below the river bed

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 ii. Horizontal apron stilling basin with a
low subsidiary on downstream

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 iii. Ski jump bucket type energy
dissipater

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 Case IV: when TWC lies below y2 curve at
low discharge and above y2 curve at high
discharges

This is a combination of case III and II. In this case, enough tail water depth shall
be artificially created to form a jump on apron at low discharges. For this,
following alternatives shall be used.
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i. Horizontal apron stilling basin with a low secondary dam
ii. Stilling basin with baffle piers
 Case IV: when TWC lies above y2 curve at
low discharge and below y2 curve at high
discharges

This is also a combination of case II and III. In this case,

sufficient tail water depth may be created to form a
jump at high flows using one of the following methods.
i. Horizontal apron with a low secondary dam
ii. Sloping apron stilling basin

Alternately, a bucket type energy dissipater that acts

as roller buckeT for low discharge and as ski jump bucket
at high discharge may be provided when sound rock
condition exists in river channel.

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 Design of stilling basin

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 7. Hydro-Mechanical & Electro-
Mechanical Equipment's
Turbine:
• These are mechanical machines which convert the energy of
flowing fluid into mechanical energy.
• The rotating shaft of turbine when coupled withelectric
generator, mechanical energy produced is converted into
electrical energy.
• Turbines are also called runners.
• Turbines are developed form of water wheels in water mills
which were used for crushing grains.
• The traditional and improved water mills are still in operation in
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remote (mountainous) area of Nepal in small scale. 68

 1. Impulse turbine

• it is a turbine which runs by impulse of water.

• The water possessing kinetic energy is introduced through
nozzle of penstock pipe to the runner of turbine, which hits the
buckets fixed on runner body and the shaft, thus imparting
energy to the runner. The pressure of water at both inlet and
outlet of the turbine is atmospheric.
• Examples of impulsive turbine are Pelton and Turgo turbine.

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 2. Reaction turbine

• In reactive turbine, water enters the wheel under

pressure and flows over the guide vanes and blades of
runner.
• The water entering the runner possesses pressure as well
as kinetic energy.
• Obviously, the turbine is always enclosed by airtight
casing and runner and casing is completely full of water.
• Examples of reactive turbine are Francis turbine,
Kaplan turbine etc.
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 Pelton Turbine

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 Francis Turbine

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 Kaplan Turbine

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 Bulb Turbine

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 Generators

• A generator is s device which converts mechanical

energy into electrical energy for use in an electric
circuit.
• Although early hydroelectric systems were of DC
variety to match early commercial electrical
system, nowadays only three phase AC current
generators are used in normal practice.

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 Generators

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 1. Synchronous generators

• Synchronous generators are alternating current generators

which convert mechanical power into AC electric power.
• These generators are equipped with DC electric or permanent
magnet excitation system associated with a voltage regulator
to control output voltage before the generator is connected to
the grid.
• These generators can run isolated from the grid and produce
power since excitation is not grid dependent.
• These are more expensive than asynchronous generators.

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 Francis Turbine generators

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 Pelton Turbine generators

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 2. Asynchronous generators

• These are simple induction motors with no possibility of

voltage regulation and running at a speed directly related to
system frequency.
• They usually draw excitation power from an electrical grid.
• Asynchronous generators cannot generate power when
disconnected from grid because they are not capable of
providing their own excitation current.
• However, they are used in small applications as a cheap
solution when required quantity of electricity supply is not
very high.
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 Governors

• the governing of turbine refers to the operation by

which speed of turbine is kept constant under all
working conditions.
• It is done automatically by means of governor which
regulates the rate of flow through the turbine according
to changing load conditions of turbine.
• Governing is necessary as turbine is directly coupled to
electric generator which is required to run at constant
speed under fluctuated load conditions.
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 Governors for Pelton Turbine

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 Governors for Francis Turbine

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 Pumps

• Pumps are mechanical devices which convert

mechanical energy into hydraulic energy.
• Centrifugal Pump
• Reciprocating Pump

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 Centrifugal Pump

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 Reciprocating Pump

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 Thank You

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