Journal of Hydraulic Research

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Bubbles and waves description of self-aerated

spillway flow

Steven C. Wilhelms & John S. Gulliver

To cite this article: Steven C. Wilhelms & John S. Gulliver (2005) Bubbles and waves
description of self-aerated spillway flow, Journal of Hydraulic Research, 43:5, 522-531, DOI:
10.1080/00221680509500150

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00221680509500150

Published online: 02 Feb 2010.

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IAHR ^ Journal of Hydraulic Research Vol. 43, No. 5 (2005), pp. 522-531
© 2005 International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research

AIRH

Bubbles and waves description of self-aerated spillway flow

Description des écoulements a bulles et vagues sur déversoir auto-aéré
STEVEN C. WILHELMS, Engineering Research and Development Center, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,
3909 Halls Ferry Road, Vicksburg, MS 39180, USA

JOHN S. GULLIVER, Joseph T. and Rose S. Ling Professor and Head, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota,
St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Mississippi River at 3rd Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414, USA

ABSTRACT
The "continuum" description of self-aerated spillway flow has adequately served to describe spillway bulking, but encounters difficulties when applied
to other physical phenomena, such as cavitation and gas transfer. The continuum description is adapted to separate air being transported by the flow
as bubbles ("entrained" air), and air transported with the flow in the roughness or waves of the water surface ("entrapped" air). Results from flume
experiments on aerated flow are used to develop an analysis procedure and mathematical description of entrained and entrapped air for flow along a
spillway face. Entrapped air is found to be constant at a void ratio, with a vertical distribution analogous to the "intermittent" region of a turbulent
boundary layer. Entrained air gradually increases to a maximum value depending on slope. Cain's dimensionless distance is used to collapse entrained
air data from several unit discharges with the same slope to a single relationship. The analysis procedure and dimensionless parameter provide a means
of analyzing a large store of additional literature data. Observations from a full-scale spillway provide verification of the procedure.

RÉSUMÉ
La description d' un "continuum" d'écoulement sur déversoir auto-aéré a bien servi a décrire Ie gonflement global, mais on rencontre des difficultés pour
1'appliquer a d'autres phénomènes physiques, tels que Ie transfert de gaz et la cavitation. La description d'un continuum est adaptée a de 1'air transporté
par 1'écoulement sous forme de bulles (air "entraïné"), différente de 1'air transporté par 1'écoulement dans la rugosité ou les vagues de la surface de
1'eau (air "enfermé"). Les résultats des experiences en canal sur 1'écoulement aéré sont utilises pour développer un procédé d'analyse et une description
mathématique de d'air entraïné et enfermé pour 1'écoulement Ie long d'un coursier de déversoir. De 1'air enfermé est trouvé constant pour un rapport de
vide, avec une distribution verticale analogue a la region "intermittente" d'une couche limite turbulente. L'air entraïné croit graduellement jusqu'a une
valeur maximum dependant de la pente. La distance sans dimensions de Cain est utilisée pour rassembler, dans une formule unique, les données d'air
entraïné de plusieurs debits unitaires avec la même pente. Le procédé d'analyse et Ie paramètre sans dimensions fournissent les moyens d'analyser
un grand stock de données additionnelles de la littérature. Les observations d'un déversoir grandeur nature fournissent la verification du procédé.

Keywords: Aerated flow, spillway, entrained air, aeration, void ratio, gas hold-up.

1 Introduction The process of self-aeration in spillways and steep chutes has

Self-aeration is a phenomenon seen in high velocity flows on
spillways or in steep channels. The flow turns frothy and white
with entrained air when aeration is initiated (Fig. 1). Studies of
self-aerated spillway flow have shown that the turbulent bound-
ary layer, caused by the spillway surface, initiates air entrainment
when it intersects the water surface at the "point of inception"
(Keller et al., 1974) (Fig. 2). For some distance, the flow is devel-
oping, i.e., there is a net flux of air into the water. When the air
bubbles are transported to their maximum depth in the water, the
flow is considered fully aerated, but continues to entrain more
air and thus is still developing. At some long distance along
the spillway, uniform conditions are approached. Thereafter,
there is no significant change in the hydraulic or air transport
characteristics.
historically been of interest to hydraulic engineers because of the
"bulking" effect the entrained air has on the depth of flow (Hall,
1943). The amount of "bulking" is a necessary design param-
eter in determining the height of spillway or chute sidewalk
Engineers have also been interested in eliminating or minimiz-
ing cavitation damage caused by high velocity flow in spillways,
chutes, and channels (Falvey, 1990). To accomplish this, aera-
tors have been designed to aspirate air into the flow (Rutschmann
and Hager, 1990). The location on the spillway, where sufficient
air from the self-aeration process becomes available to prevent or
reduce the damage caused by cavitation, is required by the design
engineer when sitting aerators or determining if aerators are
required. More recently, highly aerated flow has been recognized
for its gas transfer characteristics with the transfer of atmo-
spheric gases into the water (Gulliver and Rindels, 1993) and the

Revision received July 22, 2004/Open for discussion until August 31, 2006.

522

Figure 1 Self-aerated flow on spillway.
Figure 2 Region of developing flow (after Keller et al, 1974).
volatilization of pollutants. Falvey and Ervine (1988) reviewed
past work, discussed the hydrodynamic processes affecting aer-
ation, and identified areas where our understanding must be
improved.
The objective of this paper is to improve the description of
self-aerated flow, for use in gas transfer computations and to
provide a correlation of cavitation observations in the laboratory
with those in thefield.Because entrained air contributes greatly to
absorption of oxygen and the transfer of other gases and can sig-
nificantly reduce cavitation damage, a more detailed description
of the amount of air entrained at various depths and the type of
air entrainment is needed for spillway flows. Current conceptual
descriptions of the aeration process are examined. The "bubbles
and waves" concept is then proposed and validated regarding the
conceptual definition of entrained air. Finally, data from selected
past efforts are analyzed within this new framework to estimate
the air entrainment at any location on a spillway flow path.
2 Review
Ehrenberger (1926) is usually cited as the first study of self-
aeration in open channel flow. The major contributions of
Bubbles and waves description 523
Ehrenberger's effort were (1) recognition of the significant influ-
ence that entrained air has on hydraulic characteristics and (2),
a physical description of highly aerated flow, which was as fol-
lows: "At the top, droplets of water interspersed through air
are first noticed. Below this layer, there is a layer consisting
of a mixture of air and water, which in turn covers a layer of
water containing individual air bubbles, and finally there is a
layer of unaerated water adjacent to the bottom." This "layered"
description ultimately developed into the concept of a continuum
of air/water from the bottom to the surface.
In a benchmark article on self-aerated flow, Straub and
Anderson (1958) showed measurements of air concentration
(Fig. 3) that seemed to indicate that air concentration varied in
a continuous fashion over the depth of flow. They conducted
extensive tests in a laboratory flume at slopes from 7.5 to 75°
with unit discharges from 0.0416 to 0.2832 m 2 /s. In agree-
ment with Ehrenberger's (1926) description, they conceptualized
air-entrained flow as having an upper region, where water is trans-
ported with air, and a lower region, where air is transported with
water.
Killen (1968), however, showed in high-speed photos taken
during flume experiments in the mid-1950s that the water sur-
face remained "intact but very contorted" (Figs 4 and 5) with
a small quantity of flying droplets over the surface. Killen's
measurements with an electrical "surface" probe also support
this observation. Contrary to Ehrenberger's (1926) description,
Killen showed that a well-mixed continuum of increasing air and
decreasing water does not exist. Furthermore, the electrical sur-
face probe measurements suggest that the air content in the upper
region is composed primarily of air caught in the roughness of the
water surface, instead of air with water globules and droplets. The
measurement techniques that had been used, with the exception
140
120
E 100
Ê
E
o
« 80
m
E
o
20
0 I : : : : : : : : : 1
0 50 100
Air Concentration, percent
Figure 3 Air concentration distribution measured by Straub and
Anderson (1958).
524 Wilhelms and Gulliver
of Killen's, simply could not tell the difference. This miscon-
ception was likely propagated because the flow appears to be a
continuum to the naked eye, similar to Figs 1 and 5(a), while
an intact but highly contorted water surface is visualized with
high-speed photography, such as in Figs 4 and 5(b). The need
for a more detailed description to facilitate the analysis of cavi-
tation and gas transfer characteristics in spillway flows leads to
a refinement of the continuum description.
Figure 4 Section view of self-aeration flow is shown to be intact but
contorted in this side view photograph taken at a shutter speed of
l/100,000s (courtesy of St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of
Minnesota).
1/30 sec
Figure 5 Intact but contorted water surface in the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory chute: (a) taken with a shutter speed of approximately I/30 s and
(b) taken with a 1/50.000 s strobe light source (courtesy of St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota).
3 Air transport through bubbles and waves
Based on Killen's (1968) photographic evidence and his
water surface measurements, the concepts of "entrained" and
"entrapped air," illustrated in Fig. 6 are introduced. "Entrained"
air is transported along with the flow in the form of air bub-
bles that, at some point, have been pulled into the flowing water
through the process of air entrainment. "Entrapped" air is above
the water surface, located between the waves that form surface
roughness. Entrapped air is not transported as air bubbles, but
much of it is "trapped" in the surface waves, and transported along
with the flow. Entrained air plus entrapped air is "total conveyed
air," which, for most of the literature is defined as entrained air.
Most of the existing air entrainment data (DeLapp, 1947;
Halbronn, et ah, 1953; Viparelli, 1953; Straub and Anderson,
1958; Lai, 1968; Cain, 1978) do not separate entrapped and
entrained air, because the measurements do not differentiate
between them. The one exception is Killen's (1968) measure-
ments, which also identified "surface roughness." For some
applications, it is important to know how much air is above the
surface and how much is below the surface as air bubbles. Such a
separation will also help to understand the physical phenomena
associated with air entrainment on spillways.
For "bulking," total conveyed air is of prime importance
and the differentiation of entrained and entrapped air is of no
major consequence. However, for cavitation prevention, air bub-
bles must be present near the spillway surface and entrained air
must receive stronger consideration than total conveyed air or
1/50,000 sec
 Bubbles and waves description 525

140

120

100
E
E.
2
O
l=
o
CD
5
Figure 6 Concepts of entrained and entrapped air. O
CC
IJ-
LU
o
z
entrapped air. Entrained air also is of greater significance than co
the entrapped air determining the gas transfer on the spillway
Entrapped Plus
face, because of the tremendous surface area available for trans- Entrained Air
fer in a bubbly flow and the exposure of the bubbles to a high
level of turbulence. When the flow plunges into a pool below the
spillway, the total conveyed air would be more important since 0 50 100

much of the entrapped air will likely become entrained at the MEAN AIR CONTENT (PERCENT)

plunge point. Figure 7 Measured profiles from Killen's (1968) Test No. 2 on a 30°
slope.

4 Separation of entrained and entrapped air

Most data collected in experimental studies of aerated flow con-
sist of concentration profiles of total conveyed air (Straub and
Anderson, 1958; Killen, 1968). To make use of the entrained or
entrapped air concepts, each must be separated from total con-
veyed air. Killen was interested in the surface characteristics of
aerated flow and measured surface roughness in addition to the
total conveyed air concentration profile. He measured the total
conveyed air content with an air concentration probe (Lamb and
Killen, 1950), but also used a conduction probe with a cathode
in the probe and an anode at the channel bottom to measure the
roughness of the free surface. The surface probe dipped in and
out of the surface roughness as flow passed the probe. The signal
from the probe was a maximum when it was in the water and
at zero when out of the water. Our analysis of Killen's surface
roughness data has shown (Wilhelms, 1997) that the time-average
of these measurements can be used to determine the fraction of
air contained within the surface roughness, the entrapped air. The
entrained (as bubbles) air concentration can then be determined
by the difference between the total conveyed air concentration
and the entrapped air concentration.
Killen (1968) collected these data at several locations along
the length of a 50 cm wide flume for several flow rates and two
slopes. An example of his observations is shown in Fig. 7 for a
unit discharge, q, of 0.43 m 2 /s, channel slope, 9, of 30°, and a
distance, X, along the flume of 10.37 m. All of Killen's observed
profiles are presented in graphical form with corresponding dig-
ital profile data in Wilhelms (1997). The total conveyed air at
the channel bottom represents the concentration of entrained air,
since the water surface roughness does not extend to the bot-
tom. Below the lower limit of roughness penetration, where the
entrapped air concentration reaches zero, the total conveyed air
consists only of entrained air bubbles. However, above this limit,
both entrapped air and entrained air contribute to total conveyed
air. Entrained air gradually decreases in proportion to entrapped
air until the entrapped air and total conveyed air concentrations
are equal to 100% where the probe is completely out of the water.
5 Mean concentrations
Using Eq. (1), the mean concentration of entrapped and total
conveyed air can be determined by integrating these two curves
over depth and dividing by depth.
f0ïcc(y)dy
C (i)
and
foCcE(y)dy
c,= (2)
f0Yc«y
where C and C E are the mean concentrations of total conveyed
air and entrapped air, respectively; c(y) and cg(v) are the con-
centration profiles of the total conveyed air and entrapped air
as a function of depth v; and Yc is the integration limit. The
mean concentration of entrained air, C e , is the difference between
entrapped and total conveyed air.
Because of the difficulty in defining the upper limit of flow,
which should be the upper limit of integration, Straub and
Anderson (1958) suggested integrating the profiles to a depth
where the total conveyed air concentration was 0.95 or 0.99. Cain
and Wood (1981) adopted an integration limit where total con-
veyed air is 0.95. In a later analysis, Wood (1985) used the depth
where total conveyed air concentration was 0.90. Wilhelms and
Gulliver (1994) computed the mean entrapped air concentration
for several integration limits and determined that there was less
526 Wilhelms and Gulliver

variability in the entrapped air concentrations as the integration

Test No. 4,9=52.5°
limit increased (Table 1). The depth, denoted by Y9S, where total
^ _ ® _ _ — « -
conveyed air equals 0.98, was easily identifiable on concentra- TOTAL CONVEYED AIR

tion profiles and was selected for use in calculating mean values. ^ - ^ ®

We will use Ygg, and adapt the analysis to Y95 and Y90 through a ENTRAINED
simple numerical conversion. •"•'■ - ■ - E

LU
/ E.. CE
Mean concentrations for total conveyed air and entrapped O A
CL H A ENTRAPPED
air were calculated for all of Killen's (1968) observed profiles LU ' A * _g
EL 20
up to an air concentration of 0.98 with Eqs (1) and (2). Mean .S
&.
entrained air concentration was the difference between total con- B

veyed air and entrapped air. The results of integrating these O

o
profiles are given in Table 2 and shown in Fig. 8. This figure rr
< E Test No. 1
shows mean concentration as a function of distance along the V Test No. 2
: .:
< A Test No. 3 i
© Test No. 4
flume for Killen's slopes and discharges. As expected, the total LU
e
ENTRAPPED AIR
conveyed air concentration gradually increased in the developing s s S V
0

20
- -^ — T*«-.-
w
" a ~*
flow region, approaching a steady-state concentration. Entrained s A

'
Table 1 Variation of entrapped air concentrations from 0 3 6 9 12 15
Killen's tests for various integration limits X, Meters

Integration limit Figure 8 Results of reanalysis of Killen's (1968) data. Mean concen-
trations of profiles from Test No. 4 (above). Mean concentration of
190 *95 «98 entrapped air for all of Killen's data at 30 and 52.5° slopes versus distance
from gate along the channel (below).
\i (mean) 0.073 0.142 0.230
a (standard deviation) 0.025 0.027 0.017
Normalized o/n 0.340 0.188 0.074 air concentration followed a similar trend. It was anticipated
that the entrapped air concentration would do likewise. How-
ever, the data show essentially a constant value of about 23% for
Table 2 Mean concentrations of entrapped, entrained and the entrapped air concentration, when integrated to Yc = 0.98.
total conveyed air for Killen's (1968) Observations
When integrated to Yc = 0.95 and 0.90, mean entrapped air
Profile Entrapped Entrained Total X(m) concentrations of 14.2 and 7.3%, respectively, were computed
from the measurements. The standard deviations of the latter two
Test No. 1,6 = 30°, q = 0.195 m 2 /s
mean-values were greater than for Yc — 0.98, as indicated in
1-1 0.203 0.265 0,468 3.66
Table 1. The conversion for entrapped air by subtracting 0.23,
1-2 0.258 0.292 0.550 5.49
0.142, and 0.073 for Yc = Yg$, 795, and J^n, respectively, make
1-3 0.217 0.267 0.484 10.67
the analysis of literature data easily adapted to the bubbles and
Test No. 2,6 = 30°, q = 0.400 m 2 /s waves description.
2-1 0.253 0.036 0.209 5.49
2-2 0.262 0.093 0.355 6.10
2-3 0.246 0.094 0.340 7.32
6 Constant entrapped air concentration
2-4 0.243 0.118 0.361 10.36
2-5 0.236 0.196 0.432 10.36
Killen (1968) experimentally found that a Gaussian error function
Test No. 3,6= 30°, q = 0.790 m 2 /s (cumulative normal distribution) described the surface roughness
3-1 0.179 0.052 0.230 6.10
characteristics. An error function can also be used to describe the
3-2 0.187 0.100 0.287 7.32
shape of the entrapped air profiles. Thus, the difference between
3-3 0.215 0.134 0.349 9.14
the depths J02 and dw (Fig. 9), where the entrapped air concen-
3-4 0.232 0.151 0.348 11.58
trations are 0.02 and 0.98, respectively, represents 4.1 aE, where
Test No. 4,6 = 52.5", q = 0.400 m 2 /s CTE is the standard deviation of the cumulative normal distribu-
4-1 0.241 0.078 0.319 2.13 tion for the entrapped air. Wilhelms (1997) showed that since the
4-2 0.247 0.150 0.396 2.74 entrapped air concentration distribution is cumulative normal,
4-3 0.212 0.269 0.480 3.66 then the entrapped air (numerator of Eqs (1) and (2)) is equal to
4-4 0.223 0.255 0.478 4.27
a constant, KE, times <TE- This results in a mean entrapped air
4-5 0.174 0.372 0.546 6.10
concentration CE of
4-6 0.224 0.374 0.598 7.62
4-7 0.294 0.349 0.643 9.14 KEaE KEidw — J02)
4-8 0.256 0,390 0.646 10.67 Cv (3)
4. I d98
 Bubbles and waves description 527

120

100

5
0

0
IL

20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
MEAN AIR CONTENT (PERCENT)
Figure 9 Entrapped air concentration distribution (percent by volume),
definition of Gaussian error function parameters.

Figure 10 Boundary layer turbulence analogy to entrapped air by

For the entrapped air concentration to be constant, the ratio of
<TE or (dgs — do2) to depth of flow J 9 8 must be constant, implying
that the surface roughness is related to the overall depth of flow.
This is reasonable when one considers the cause of the surface
roughness: turbulent eddies being generated by shear at the floor
of the channel. In a steep channel, the strength of these eddies is
sufficient to deform and contort the water surface. Furthermore,
the size of these eddies determines the magnitude of the surface
roughness and the largest length scale of the turbulent eddies is
a function of depth in a turbulent open channel flow.
We believe that surface roughness in a steep open channel
flow is analogous to the distribution of turbulence at the outer
edge of a turbulent boundary layer, illustrated in Fig. 10. The tur-
bulence generated within the boundary layer causes the interface
of the outer flow and the boundary layer to be "highly contorted"
(Tennekes and Lumley, 1972). Measurements of turbulence in
this region have resulted in the concept of an intermittency factor,
which is the proportion of time at some location in the interfa-
cial region that the fluid is turbulent. Hinze (1959) reported that
the distribution of the intermittency factor across this interfacial
region was described by a Gaussian error function. The inter-
mittency parameter also defines the concentration by volume of
non-turbulent fluid within the boundary layer and is directly anal-
ogous to the entrapped air concentration. Using the distributions
given by Hinze (1959), the mean concentration of non-turbulent
fluid in a boundary layer between intermittency parameter val-
ues of 0.02 and 0.98 is constant at approximately 25%, which
compares well with the 23% entrapped air concentration found
from an analysis of Killen's (1968) water surface data. Moreover,
the thickness of the intermittent region of turbulent and non-
turbulent fluid is proportional to the boundary layer thickness,
which corresponds to the depth of flow.
surface roughness.
We can thus describe the surface roughness and entrapped air
as follows: The highly energized boundary layer that is gener-
ated by the spillway propagates through the depth of flow and
manifests itself as the roughened water surface. Thus, the char-
acteristics of the water surface are a direct reflection of the
turbulence generated by the spillway. Through analogy with the
outer region of a turbulent boundary layer, it can be concluded that
the surface roughness should be related to the depth of flow. With
this in mind, a constant entrapped air concentration is expected
once the boundary layer of the spillway reaches the free surface.
The simple numerical conversion from the continuum descrip-
tion to the bubbles and waves description of self-aerated flow is
a natural outcome of a highly energized, free-surface flow.
7 Non-dimensional parameters for
developing aerated flow
Non-dimensional parameters are used for their convenience
in illustrating similarities in fluid flow. Past efforts related to
self-aerating flow proposed non-dimensional terms that have
included a "distance Reynolds Number" (Keller et ai, 1974),
where the critical dimension was distance along the direction of
flow. Cain (1978) used the depth of flow at the point of incep-
tion Yj to introduce a dimensionless distance parameter X*/Yj,
where X* is the distance from the point of inception X, to the
measurement location X or X* = X — X,. This particular vari-
able has the convenient characteristic of implicitly including the
unit discharge with Yt. At the point of inception, regardless of
528 Wilhelms and Gulliver

Test No. 4,9 == 52.5° P • Straub andAnderson1958

h- o Killen 1968
LU
7
lil
TOTAL CONVEYED AIR ^ ^ _ - — ^ ^ G > © o
cz bU ©
III
n h-
C6 = 27.0 - 27.0 exp (-0.011 X*/Y,)
l- © ENTRAINED LU
7 r-
LU
1- 40 a yS o
A. ■ ■ • '
A
n Ë
< i
cc
<r ?n
/a B *
" a
É- B
m
E -z.
UJ
Jr^"*^
7 ENTRAPPED 2 ■:;■/

A .•
<
in A
200 400 600 800
^ X'ff,
n
50 100 150 200 250
Figure 13 Mean concentration of entrained air (percent by volume)
XVY,
versus dimensionless distance from the point of inception on a 30° slope
Figure 11 Non-dimensional mean concentrations of profiles from for Killen's (1968) tests and computed from Straub and Anderson's
Killen's (1968) Test No. 4 on a 52.5° slope. (1958) tests assuming 23% entrapped air.

80 and Anderson measurements were in non-uniform aerated flow.

TestNos. 1-3,8 = 30.0
LU
g 60
TOTAL CONVEYED AIR
a ENTRAINED
50 100
X7Y,
Figure 12 Non-dimensional mean concentrations of profiles from
Killen's (1968) tests on a 30° slope.
discharge, the hydraulic character of the flow is completely devel-
oped. Hence, the discharge can be described in terms of the depth
of flow, channel slope, and the friction factor or another resis-
tance coefficient such as Chezy's or Manning's coefficient. It
follows that the dimensionless distance parameter X*/Y-, may be
an appropriate term for the analysis of developing flow. This term
is compared against Killen's (1968) experimental data in Figs 11
and 12. The data for three discharges at the 30° slope seem to
fall onto one curve when plotted with X*/ K,, which indicates the
success of Cain's non-dimensional parameter.
8 Analysis of other data
Straub and Anderson (1958) made extensive measurements of
aerated flow for a large variety of slopes and discharges in the
sameflumethat Killen (1968) used. Their observations, however,
consisted only of total conveyed air concentration profiles. By
subtracting the entrapped air content of 23% from a re-analysis
of these data to Y^, the entrained-entrapped air concept can be
extended to conditions where only total conveyed air measure-
ments were made. Furthermore, Straub and Anderson intended
to measure the entrained air characteristics for uniform flow con-
ditions. Wood (1983), however, showed that many of the Straub
In addition, Straub and Anderson collected more profiles at 13.72
and 10.67 m along the flume that were not published. Wilhelms
(1997) presents these data, which will be used in this analysis. By
using Cain's dimensionless distance to locate these profiles, all of
the profiles for one slope can be analyzed as profiles of develop-
ing flow at different locations, X*/ K,-, along the "dimensionless"
flume.
A methodology was developed to estimate the point of incep-
tion X, (Wilhelms, 1997), based upon the normal depth of
flow Yi and the flume gate opening. Using this methodology,
150 200 250 a dimensionless distance X*/Yj along the flume can be calcu-
lated for Straub and Anderson's 10.67-and 13.72-m observations.
Figure 13 shows the developing nature of entrained air concentra-
tion from observations on a 30° slope from Straub and Anderson's
and Killen's tests. This analysis of Straub and Anderson's exper-
iments, when compared to Killen's observations of developing
flow, indicates the validity of the approach. Figure 13 implies that
all spillway air entrainment data with a given bottom roughness
and slope will plot on one curve.
To verify this conclusion, Cain's (1978) measurements can
be added to the Straub and Anderson flume measurements. Cain
measured total conveyed air concentration profiles at several loca-
tions along the flow path on the Aviemore spillway, which has a
45° slope, representing measurements of developing flow. Cain's
observed profiles of total conveyed air concentration were inte-
grated to determine mean concentrations at Y<j% of total conveyed
air. Then 23% was subtracted for mean entrapped air, leaving
mean concentrations of entrained air. Figure 14 shows the mean
entrained air concentrations as a function of dimensionless dis-
tance along the spillway face for the two discharges Cain tested.
Because air concentration was measured along the flow path, a
good estimate of the air entrainment inception location, X,, and
the equivalent depth at inception, Y-„ could be obtained. Also
given in Fig. 14 are the Straub and Anderson (1958) measure-
ments on a 45° slope at 10 different discharges. Considering the
scale-up difficulties encountered when laboratory measurements
are compared to full-scale and the wall-roughness differences
between the flume and Aviemore spillway, the two sets of data
are remarkably close.
 Bubbles and waves description 529

Table 3 Regression coefficients for Straub and Ander-

o Straub and Anderson(1958)
• Cam (1978) son's and Killen's observations on 30-75° slopes

Slope (°)
° 8 8
15 0.126 N/A a N/A a
C„ = 49.3 - 49.3 exp (-0.010 X*/Y,)
22.5 0.173 N/A a N/A1'
30 0.270 0.011 0.83
37.5 0.455 0.007 0.82
45 0.493 0.010 0.87
52.5 0.517 0.010 0.88
60 0.540 0.009 0.83
75 0.566 0.011 0.37
Figure 14 Mean concentration of entrained air versus dimensionless
distance from the point of inception, computed by subtracting 23% insufficient data to determine rate coefficient.
entrapped air from Straub and Anderson's (1958) tests on a 45° slope
and Cain's (1978) observations on Aviemore Spillway.

1
This comparison demonstrates the appropriateness of the argu-
ments made in earlier sections regarding Cain's non-dimensional
terms and shows that the relationships established provide rea- CV* = 0.656 ( i _ e *»■««»-">■»>)
sonably accurate predictions of air concentrations at any location
in the developing flow region. The comparison also indicates that
the uniform aerated flow concentration is accurately predicted. It
seems likely that this formulation should be applicable to most !..,
spillways because, even though the relationships were devel-
30 40 50
oped from observations made in a laboratory flume, the results Slope, degrees

reasonably predicted observations from a full-scale project. Figure 15 Equilibrium entrained air concentration versus channel slope
for Straub and Anderson's (1958) and Killen's (1968) observations.

9 Prediction of spillway air entrainment

The Straub and Anderson (195 8) data are the most comprehensive
with regard to variation of slope and, for that reason, a predictive
equation for air entrainment into a spillway flow will be fit to these
data, after subtracting the 23% entrapped air. Also included are
Killen's data for a 52.5° slope, because of a shortage of high
slope, developing aerated flow data. The normalized data tend to
asymptotically approach an equilibrium value C e o o , described by
To apply Eq. (5), the relationship must be known between
mean equilibrium air concentration, C e00 and slope as shown
in Fig. 15, along with the fitted relationship for slopes between
11 and 75°
C eoo = 0.656(1 - e -0.0356(0-10.9) (6)
where the units of 8 is degrees and C eoo ' s provided as a fraction
of 1.0.

C e — t_-eoo \ / (4)
where C e is the mean entrained air concentration and a is the
spatial dimensionless rate at which the entrained air approaches
equilibrium. A non-linear, multi-variant regression analysis pro-
vided estimates of C eoo and a. Table 3 shows these results. The
alpha coefficient showed little variation with no apparent relation-
ship to slope. Equation (4) was therefore revised to incorporate
a equal to 0.010 to describe the mean entrained air content at any
location in aerated flow.
-0M0X*/Yi
C e — ^eoo y ' ' (5)
Equation (5) is straight-forward in solution, the dimensionless
distance implicitly includes the important variable of distance
and unit discharge, and appears to be applicable over relatively
wide range of slopes and discharges. However, it is possible that
the alpha coefficient will increase or decrease depending upon
channel roughness.
10 Application
The following steps illustrate a method to apply Eq. (5) to esti-
mate the entrained air concentration and total conveyed air at
any location along the flow path of a spillway with a slope
between 11 and 75°:
1. Estimate the depth of flow Yj and the location X, of surface
roughness inception with procedures outlined, for example,
by Keller et al. (1974).
2. Determine the dimensionless distance to the point of interest
with X*/ Yi = (X- Xi)/Yi.
3. Determine the equilibrium concentration with Eq. (6).
4. Calculate the entrained air concentration with Eq. (5).
5. Add the entrapped air concentration of 23, 14.2, and 7.3% for
the 98, 95, and 90% TCA integration levels, respectively.
6. If computing the spillway side wall height, choose the
preferred percent exceedence level and add freeboard.
530 Wilhelms and Gulliver
The greatest potential for error in this procedure is item 1,
calculating the point of inception. If available, a picture of the
spillway flow at a known discharge is recommended to verify
or calibrate the equations to estimate point of inception. If the
spillway is exceptionally rough, such as a stepped spillway, the
coefficient a in Eq. (5) could be significantly larger than deter-
mined herein. The equations developed herein, with a larger a
value should still be applicable.
11 Conclusions
The description of air entrainment on a steep spillway or chute,
developed in this paper, provides an estimate of entrained and
entrapped air transport for application to engineering concerns.
With these new descriptions, the entrained air at any location
in a high velocity spillway flow can be estimated, which could
improve the methodology of reducing localized cavitation dam-
age on spillway surfaces. The volume of entrained air in high
velocity flows can also be estimated as a basis for computing
the surface area available for gas transfer, which can increase by
several orders of magnitude when air is entrained.
The most important results of this research are:
• The descriptions of entrained, entrapped, and total conveyed
air provide a more accurate physical description of self-aerated
flow on a spillway.
• The recognition that Killen's (1968) surface measurements
represent entrapped air and clearly indicate the need for two
measurements (one for total conveyed air and one for entrapped
air) to determine the true character of self-aerated flow.
• The separation of entrapped air from total conveyed air shows
that entrapped air dominated the distribution of total conveyed
air in the upper region of aerated flow.
• The entrapped air concentration was constant at about 23% by
volume when averaged over the depth up to an air concentration
of 0.98 (Yc = K98). The similarity of the surface of aerated
flow to the momentum surface of a turbulent boundary layer
corroborates the cumulative normal distribution of entrapped
air and provides a theory to justify a constant entrapped air
concentration.
• An analysis procedure was developed that enabled analysis of
several sets of experimental data.
• A simple non-dimensional mathematical description of devel-
oping self-aerated flow was presented for application to
self-aerated spillway flow.
We recommend that any future experimental work in this area
include measurements of both entrained and entrapped air. This
requires the use of two instruments: an air concentration probe
(Lamb and Killen, 1950) for the total conveyed air contained in the
bubbles and waves and a surface conduction probe (Killen, 1968)
for entrapped air contained only in between the surface waves. The
results of this effort have application to at least these three areas
of concern to engineers: bulking of flow, cavitation damage to
spillway surfaces, and the air-water transfer of oxygen, nitrogen,
and other gases, as discussed in a companion paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to recognize the US Army Corps of Engi-
neers, Research and Development Center Waterways Experiment
Station for its support in this effort.
Notation
Ce = Mean entrained air concentration
Entrained air equilibrium value
c = Mean concentration of total conveyed air
cE = Mean entrapped air concentration
CT = Standard deviation of the cumulative normal
E
distribution for the entrapped air
c(y): Concentration profile of the total conveyed air as a
function of distance y from the spillway surface
:
Concentration profile of the entrapped air as a function
CE(V)
of distance v from the spillway surface
dm ■■ Depth where the entrapped air concentration is 0.02
dg& : Depth where the entrapped air concentration is 0.98
K* ■ Constant
'/ Unit discharge
X Distance along flume or spillway to location of interest
X* : Distance from the point of inception to the
measurement location X* — X — Xj
X*/Yf. Dimensionless distance parameter
Xr Location of point of inception along flume or spillway
y- Depth
^98 : Integration limit where total conveyed air equals 0.98
Yc Integration limit
Yf. Depth of flow at the point of inception
a ■■ Spatial dimensionless rate at which the entrained air
approaches equilibrium
Channel slope (°)
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