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Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway using weakly compressible flow

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DOI: 10.1080/00221686.2007.9521822

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 Journal of Hydraulic Research Vol. 45, No. 6 (2007), pp. 844–852
© 2007 International Association of Hydraulic Engineering and Research

Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway using weakly

compressible flow equations
Modélisation de l’hydrodynamique sur un déversoir en utilisant les équations des
écoulements faiblement compressibles
M.R. BHAJANTRI, Research Scholar, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India, 400 076;
Senior Research Officer, Central Water & Power Research Station, Khadakwasla, Pune, India. Tel.: 0091-20-24381825;
fax: 0091-20-24381004; e-mail: bhajan_mr@rediffmail.com
T.I. ELDHO, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, India, 400 076.
Tel.: +91-22- 25767339; fax: +91-22-2572 3480; e-mail: eldho@civil.iitb.ac.in (author for correspondence)
P.B. DEOLALIKAR, Joint Director, Central Water & Power Research Station, Khadakwasla, Pune, India. Tel.: 0091-20-24381825;
fax: 0091-20-24381004; e-mail: pbdeolalikar@vsnl.net

ABSTRACT
Spillway hydrodynamics can be obtained through physical modeling or numerical modeling. Physical modeling of spillway is expensive, cumbersome
and time consuming. Numerical simulation of rapidly varied, supercritical, free surface turbulent flow over spillway with all flow regimes is a
challenging task. This paper explains the formulation and development of a numerical model based on weakly compressible flow equations for flow
over spillway. The developed model is used to investigate the hydraulic characteristics of flow over spillway crest profile by simulating the velocity
distribution, pressure distribution and discharge characteristics. The developed numerical model was applied to the two different types of spillways.
First spillway studied is a surface spillway with broad crested parabolic downstream crest profile. The second spillway investigated is sluice spillway,
which is a submerged type of spillway. The numerical results were compared with the respective physical model results. Good agreement is observed
between the experimental and numerical results showing the applicability of the weakly compressible flow equations for the hydrodynamics simulation
of flow over spillways.

RÉSUMÉ
L’hydrodynamique de déversoir peut être obtenue par un modèle physique ou numérique. La modélisation physique est chère, encombrante et elle
prend du temps. La simulation numérique d’un écoulement rapidement variable, supercritique, turbulent et à surface libre sur un déversoir avec tous
les régimes possibles est un vrai challenge. Cet article explique la formulation et le développement d’un modèle numérique basé sur les équations
des écoulements faiblement compressibles dans le cas d’un déversoir. Le modèle développé est utilisé pour étudier les caractéristiques hydrauliques
de l’écoulement sur le profil de crête du déversoir en simulant les distributions de vitesse et de pression et les caractéristiques de débit. Le modèle
numérique développé a été appliqué à deux types différents de déversoirs. Le premier est un déversoir de surface avec un large profil de crête aval
parabolique. Le second est un déversoir d’écluse, qui est de type submergé. Les résultats numériques ont été comparés aux résultats respectifs de
modèles physiques. On observe une bonne concordance entre les résultats expérimentaux et numériques, ce qui montre l’applicabilité des équations
faiblement compressibles à l’hydrodynamique des déversoirs.

Keywords: Spillway, hydrodynamic simulation, weakly compressible flow formulation, finite volume method.

1 Introduction surplus water, which cannot be safely retained in the reservoir

Civilizations have used dams for thousands of years for water
supply, flood control, navigation, and in modern times, for hydro-
electric power generation and recreation. The major driving force
for dams throughout the world is the need for reliable and safe
water supply, particularly in developing nations. The part of
the dam, which discharges the flood flow to the downstream
side, is called as spillway. The basic purpose of a spillway is
to convey to the downstream river or to some other natural drain,
upstream of the dam. Provision of a hydraulically efficient and
structurally strong spillway is very important for the safety of
the dam and the life and property along the river down below.
It is very important that these structures are optimized function-
ally and economically keeping in view of the techno-economic
feasibility of the individual project. Hydraulic models are being
used extensively to visualize and to understand complexity of
hydraulic phenomena. Hydraulic design aspects considered to
evolve hydraulically efficient design of spillway are: discharging

Revision received August 29, 2006/Open for discussion until June 30, 2008.

844

capacity, pressures and water surface profiles, energy dissipa-
tion arrangement, approach flow conditions and downstream flow
conditions to control downstream erosion.
The conventional spillway, which is also called Ogee spillway,
has four main parts: the upstream crest profile, downstream crest
profile, the sloping face, and the energy dissipater at the toe. Gen-
erally upstream of the crest, the flow is subcritical (or gradually
varied) and the flow changes its state from subcritical to super-
critical after the crest because the crest is followed by a steep
sloping face. Spillway flows are essentially rapidly varied flows
with pronounced curvature of the streamlines. Rapidly varied
flow having large streamline curvatures exerts non-hydrostatic
pressure distribution over the spillway surface. Two processes
simultaneously occur in the flow over the crest: formation and
gradual thickening of the turbulent boundary layer along the pro-
file and gradual increase in the velocity and decrease in the depth
of main flow. Because of the changes of flow boundaries in a short
distance, acceleration plays a dominant role in the flow as com-
pared to shear resistance at the solid boundary. For spillway flow,
vertical acceleration is significant, the flow velocity and pressure
varies in the direction of flow as well as in the vertical direction.
Spillway hydrodynamics can be obtained through physical
modeling or numerical modeling. Physical modeling of spill-
way is expensive, cumbersome and time consuming. The main
difficulties while solving the spillway problem numerically are:
rapidly varied flow, existence of both subcritical and supercritical
flows, development of turbulent boundary layer, unknown free
surface and air entrainment. In this paper, numerical modeling
of the hydrodynamics of spillway flow using weakly compress-
ible flow equations is discussed. With the help of the developed
numerical model, an attempt is made to investigate hydraulic
characteristics of two real spillways by simulating the velocity
distribution, pressure distribution and discharge characteriztics.
2 Numerical modeling of flow over spillway
Spillway, being one of the most studied hydraulic structures has
recently attracted many researchers working in the area of Com-
putational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) owing to enhanced computer
resources. Literature review reveals that in the past very few
people attempted numerical modeling of spillway flows due to
limited computer resources and complexity of flows associated
with the spillways. Since last one decade, many researchers have
tried to simulate spillway flows. Most of them have used either
potential flow theory (Li et al., 1989) or RANS equations (Olsen
and Kjellesvig, 1998; Burgisser and Rutschmann, 1999) and
available commercial codes (Bruce and Johnson, 2001)). Zhou
and Bhajantri (1998) and Song and Zhou (1999) used space-
averaged Navier–Stokes equations to develop two-dimensional
(2D) and three-dimensional (3D) spillway flow models respec-
tively. Most of the methods used to calculate the spillway flow
found in literature have adopted some kind of assumptions in
order to simplify the computation. As both subcritical and super
critical flows exist in spillway flow problems, numerical method
capable of capturing shock wave should be used. In addition, the
Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway 845
discharge and free surface are unknown and must be solved as
part of the solution.
For modeling a flow that varies rapidly in vertical direction
and shows negligible flow variation in lateral direction such as
the flow over the spillway, one can use 2D vertical model. This
model in its simplified form can be used as width-averaged model,
which is analogous to physical 2D sectional model. The main
difficulty for this model as compared with the depth-averaged
model is in the treatment of free surface.
Typical free surface flows such as flow over a spillway in
nature, are of large Reynolds number and are characterized by
large scale turbulent mixing. These flows are of small Mach num-
ber and usually treated as incompressible flows. Under rapidly
changing conditions, the first order of compressibility may not
be negligible. In reality, fluids are compressible and the pres-
sure is always related to the density no matter how weak their
connection is. Hence it ought to be legitimate to use the com-
pressible form of equations even for so called incompressible
flow regimes. We introduce compressibility in order to make
the problem more amenable to numerical solution. The result-
ing compressibility has no immediate physical significance but
is only an aid introduced to facilitate the computation. Song
and Yuan (1988) developed the weakly compressible flow (also
called compressible hydrodynamic) equations that are applicable
and efficient for practical flows of small Mach number and large
Reynolds number. The method has been applied to a number of
steady as well as unsteady flows, and the numerical results have
been validated with experimental data (Song et al., 1997). In the
present study, the weakly compressible flow equations have been
used in the hydrodynamics simulation of flow over spillways.
2.1 Governing equations
The most commonly used equation of continuity for compressible
flows may be written as follows:
∂ρ
+ ∇ · ρV = 0 (1)
∂t
where ρ is density of the fluid, V is velocity vector and t is time.
An equation of state is applied to represent the density variation
with pressure. The density ρ and pressure p may be related to
each other through the well-known thermodynamic equation as,
∂p
= a2 (2)
∂ρ
where a is sound of speed. Using Eq. (2), it is possible to trans-
form Eq. (1) into an equation in which p, rather than ρ, is one
of the main dependent variables. The transformed equation of
continuity may be written as follows:
∂p
+ V · ∇p + ρa2 ∇ · V = 0 (3)
∂t
In the above equation, ρa2 = K, is the bulk modulus of elasticity.
The second term represents the convection of pressure, and the
third term is the production of pressure due to volume change.
For a specific fluid and a specific thermal process, a specific
equation of state is required to completely specify the relationship
846 Bhajantri et al.

among ρ, p and a. No fluid is truly incompressible but small
amounts of compressibility may cause large effects under certain
flow conditions. The assumption of weak compressibility, under
isothermal conditions, suggests the linearized equation of state.
Water is relatively incompressible, and its equation of state may
be accurately expressed by the following linear equation for a
very large range of pressure change:
p − po = ao2 (ρ − ρo )
2.2.2 Downstream boundary conditions
The downstream boundary should be located based on the range
of the interested domain. For the study of the crest shape effect,
the downstream condition will have no effect on the upstream
flow since the flow over the downstream slope of the spillway is
supercritical. The downstream section can be chosen on a sloping
section where the flow is fully developed so that zero gradients
of velocity and pressure can be assumed.
(4)

where the subscript o represents the reference condition. When 2.2.3 Solid boundary conditions
Eq. (4) is used to eliminate density, ρ from the equation of There are three kinds of solid boundary conditions available: full-
continuity, the following equation is obtained: slip boundary condition, partial-slip boundary condition and no-
slip boundary condition. The full-slip means that uτ (tangential
∂p
+ V · ∇p + ρo ao2 ∇ · V = 0 (5) velocity at the spillway surface) = uin (tangential velocity at
∂t
the inner grid point adjacent to the spillway surface) while no-
If the Mach number, M is small, then the second term can be slip means uτ = 0. For partial slip condition, a wall function
shown to be of the order M2 and can be dropped (Song and should be used, doing so prevents the generation of the fine mesh
Yuan, 1988). Thus, the equation of continuity for compressible near the wall and saves huge amount of computer storage space.
hydrodynamic flow (weakly compressible flow) can be written Selection of the three alternative boundary conditions depends
as follows: on the relative magnitude of the grid size and the boundary layer
∂p thickness. There is no flow across solid boundaries. The solid
+ ρo ao2 ∇ · V = 0 (6) boundary conditions are achieved by defining the flow variables
∂t
at the center of the phantom cells located on the other side of the
The equations of motion can be written as (Song andYuan, 1988), solid boundary. Here, full-slip boundary condition is applied.
∂V 1 1
+ V · ∇ V + ∇(p + gρo y) = ∇.τij (7)
∂t ρo ρo 2.2.4 Free surface boundary conditions
The most difficult boundary to simulate is the time-varied free
In the above equation τij is the shear stress tensor and g is accelera-
surface position. Factors affecting the free surface are: wind
tion due to gravity and gravity is assumed to act in the y-direction.
stress, the heat exchanging between water and air, surface ten-
The flow, which satisfies the Eqs. (6) and (7), is called weakly
sion stress and aeration. Moving mesh method which is based
compressible flow. Neglecting the viscous terms in the equations
on Lagrangian approach is adopted to update the shape of the
of motion (7), the resulting equations of motion are called Euler
boundary after every time step. The main difficulty in moving
equations and can be written as:
mesh method is maintaining the quality of mesh. The implemen-
∂V 1 tation of free surface boundary conditions plays a crucial role
+ V · ∇ V + ∇(p + gρo y) = 0 (8) in the numerical simulation. Motion of free surface is based on
∂t ρo
the prescribed kinematic and dynamic conditions. On the free
surface, two boundary conditions namely: assumption of atmo-
2.2 Boundary conditions spheric pressure and no flux across the free surface are required
The following boundary conditions are generally used in the to be satisfied simultaneously.
hydrodynamics simulation of flow over a spillway. The kinematic condition is based on the idea that free surface
is a material surface and has the form of,
∂Zf
2.2.1 Upstream boundary conditions +u  · ∇Zf = vf (11)
∂t
The upstream boundary can be setup on a reservoir section at
which the reservoir water level and the incoming discharge can where Zf is the free surface displacement along the normal direc-
be known. This section should be far away from the spillway tion; vf is the free surface velocity in the vertical direction.
to avoid the reflection effect. The boundary conditions based on This equation will be solved using the Mac-Cormack scheme
velocity distribution are: to modify the new free surface position during the iteration.
The dynamic boundary condition, ignoring the surface tension
u = uo (xo , y) (9) effect, is the zero stress condition. For the present model the
∂p dynamic boundary condition, which is zero stress on the free
v = 0; =0 (10) surface is simplified as follows:
∂x
where x is the flow direction and y is the vertical direction. uo is ∂V
p = 0; =0 (12)
determined by the given discharge, the water depth and the width ∂n
of the incoming flow. where n represents the unit vector normal to the free surface.
 Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway 847

3 Solution methodology and model development In the Finite Volume formulation of the flux terms in Eq. (13)
finally involves the task of finding [∂G/∂t]avg and integrating
In the present study, Finite Volume Method (FVM) is used in the the Eq. (22). These two are solved simultaneously using Mac-
model development. An explicit finite volume (FVM) scheme Cormack’s predictor-corrector method.
is used for the unsteady flow calculations. To apply the FVM In the predictor-corrector method, the known values of F are
scheme, it is convenient to first re-write the governing Eqs. (6) used in the Eq. (22) to evaluate the value of [∂G/∂t] which in turn
and (8), in a conservative form as follows: is substituted in Eq. (20) to predict the solution for G(t + t).
∂G Now the flux vector F is updated and used to obtain the values
+ ∇ · F = 0 (13) of [∂G/∂t] from Eq. (22). The lumped value of [∂G/∂t]avg is
∂t
where, G is the flow variable (p, u, v) and F is the flux vector. obtained as,


F = iE1 + jE2 (14) [∂G/∂t]avg =
1 ∂G ∂Ḡ
+ (23)
2 ∂t ∂t
G = [p u v]T (15)
Numerical computations often have spurious oscillations in

T
p space, time, or both and the behavior is usually referred to as
E1 = ρo ao2 u u2 + uv (16)
ρo numerical instability. If the computed values within a time step

 exhibit variations over a distance comparable to the cell width or
p T time comparable to the time increment, the accuracy of the com-
E2 = ρo ao v uv v +
2 2
(17)
ρo puted results is not reliable. To prevent this, certain restrictions
Equation (13) can be integrated over an arbitrary finite vol- in terms of the mesh sizes (x, y) or aspect ratio of the cells
ume and the volume integral is changed to the surface integral x/y, or the time increment t and weighted coefficients is
by applying the divergence theorem. After averaging it in the required to be made. Since the present model is based on explicit
volume, we have, method, the computational time step has to be based on the
 numerical stability considerations. The stability of the computa-
∂Ḡ 1
+ n · F ds = 0 (18) tions of equations, are controlled by the Courant Friedrichs-Levy
∂t V s
condition (Courant et al., 1967):
where, Ḡ is the volume-averaged value of G, V is the volume,  
Volume
n is the unit normal vector; s is the surface area of the control t ≤ Min (24)
volume. The values of the flux terms in Eq. (18), for instance, G (|ui si | + a0 |si |)
at any later instant of time (t + t) can be found by expanding where u is the velocity and s is the surface area of the control
G using Taylor’s series, volume. The minimum value of the time step t computed over
∂G the whole domain satisfying the condition of Eq. (24) is taken as
G(t + t) = G(t) + t + (H.O.T ) (19) the computational time step.
∂t
where H.O.T means higher order terms. For larger time steps
higher order terms in Taylor’s series are required. In the com-
3.1 Computational procedure
putational scheme adopted, the value of G(t + t) is obtained
through a process of successive approximation as lumped value Based upon the above FVM formulation, a computer model has
[∂G/∂t]avg from the immediately known values of the flow been developed to solve the spillway hydrodynamics. Starting
variables so that Eq. (19) can be written as, from the given initial conditions, the governing equations are

 solved for the velocity and pressure at all grid points for the next
∂G
G(t + t) = G(t) + t (20) time step. New free surface is computed and new mesh system
∂t avg
is generated. According to the explicit time marching method,
where, [∂G/∂t]avg is supposed to include the effect of higher order the flow at each time step is calculated until the flow has been
terms. The computation of the value of G at the new time level stabilized or up to a specified time. The computational results are
reduces to finding the value of [∂G/∂t]avg and Eq. (18) can be examined from time to time.
used to compute ∂G/∂t as detailed below,

 
∂G 1
= − (n · F )dS (21) 4 Model applications
∂t t V s

 
k=2    
∂G 1  The developed FVM model has been applied on two test prob-
= − (n · F )dS + (n · F )dS
∂t t V k=1 Sk+ Sk− lems of flow over spillway to verify the feasibility of the new
model. First the model has been applied on a spillway with broad
(22)
crested parabolic downstream crest profile. The second spillway
here, k = 1, 2 represents the two pairs of opposite faces where was sluice spillway, which is a submerged type of spillway. For
the flux integrals are numerically evaluated using flux vectors both the spillways, physical model studies have been conducted
behind the appropriate faces of the finite volume element. in Central Water & Power Research Station, Pune, India. Some of
848 Bhajantri et al.
the numerical results were compared with the respective physical
model results.
4.1 Parbati dam spillway
Parbati concrete gravity dam overflow spillway is located in
Himachal Pradesh, India. Before the dam was constructed, phys-
ical model studies were undertaken at Central Water and Power
Research Station, Pune, India. A 3D comprehensive model was
constructed to an undistorted geometrically similar scale of 1 : 50
based on Froudian similitude. The concrete gravity dam and over-
flow spillway were constructed in brick masonry and the surface
was plastered in smooth cement and painted with enamel paint.
Piezometers were provided on the spillway profile for observing
pressures. Necessary arrangements were made for measurement
of discharge, water levels and pressures. Hydraulic model studies
were conducted for the following aspects as a part of client spon-
sored applied research work: discharging capacity of the spillway,
pressures and water surface profiles on the spillway surface and
efficacy of the energy dissipation arrangement for entire range
of discharges. The observed values of pressures and water sur-
face profiles for the discharge of 925 m3 sec−1 have been used to
compare with the values calculated from numerical model.
4.1.1 Mesh generation
Single zone body fitted mesh system was generated for Parbati
dam spillway. Parts of the prototype simulated in the numeri-
cal model include: (i) A part of the reservoir (41 m long and
23 m deep); (ii) Upstream spillway crest profile (7.38 m long)
and (iii) Downstream spillway crest profile (40 m long). Fig-
ure 1 shows the mesh system. The flow domain is discretized
into 9500(190 × 50 = 9500) quadrilateral cells.
4.1.2 Boundary and initial conditions
Numerical simulation was done for a discharge of 925 m3 sec−1 ,
which is 50% of design probable maximum flood. The corre-
sponding discharge intensity works out to be 51.38 m3 sec−1 m−1 .
Figure 1 Mesh generated for Parbati dam spillway.
The incoming flow was assumed to be steady. The upstream open
boundary condition for velocity was worked out from discharge
intensity and initial reservoir water level. At the downstream
boundary, it is assumed that the flow is fully developed and
hence zero-gradient assumption was used for both velocity and
pressure.
At the solid boundary of the spillway, full slip condition is
used for velocity while the centrifugal force is considered when
imposing pressure condition. Full slip condition is applied at
the bottom of reservoir. Initial water free surface elevation was
determined by Continuity equation and Bernoulli equation. At the
free surface, aeration, wind stresses and surface tension were not
considered owing to their insignificant influence near the spillway
crest. The only dynamic condition assumed was pressure is equal
to atmospheric pressure.
4.1.3 Results and discussion
Starting from the given initial conditions, the governing equations
are solved for the velocity and pressure at all grid points for the
next time step. New free surface is computed and new mesh
system is generated. According to the explicit time marching
method, the flow at each time step is calculated until the flow has
been stabilized or up to a specified time.
The solution became stable after iterations of 5 00 000 time
steps. The whole computation took four and half-hours on 1 GHz
Pentium PC. The piezometric pressures and water surface pro-
files observed on the physical model were compared with the
simulated pressures and water surface profiles. Good agreement
was found between the calculated values and experimental data.
Figure 2 shows the pressure distribution on the spillway surface
after the solution has been converged. Figure 3 shows the water
surface profile. The computed and experimental values of coef-
ficient of discharge were 0.6 and 0.59 indicating again the good
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION ALONG SPILLWAY SURFACE
45
40 No. of time steps = 500000
Calculated
35
30
Elevation in m
25 Observed pressures
on physical model
20
15
10
40 60 80
Chainage in m
Figure 2 Pressure distribution on spillway surface in comparison with
the numerical model and experimental results.
 Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway 849

WATER SURFACE PROFILE

55 30 FLOW FIELD
50
45
No. of time steps =500000
40 Observed Water Surface Profile
on physical model
20

Elevation in m
35
30
Elevation in m

water surface simulated

25
20
10
15
10
5
0
0
-5 No. of time steps = 600000
-10
-15 30 40 50 60
Chainage in m
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Figure 5 Flow field near spillway.
Chainage in m
Figure 3 Water Surface profile in comparison with the numerical model
and experimental results. 50

PARBATI DAM SPILLWAY

40

DOUBLE ZONE MESH SYSTEM

60 FLOW FIELD
Elevation in m

30 Zone two
No. of cells = 7600
50
20

40 VECTOR SCALE : 1 cm = 25 m/sec

Elevation in m

10

30 Zone one
No. of time steps =500000 0
20
20 40 60 80
10 Distance in m

Figure 6 Two zone mesh system for Parbati dam.

0

-10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Chainage in m
Figure 4 Flow field in the entire domain.
agreement between the physical model and numerical model.
Figures 4 and 5 show the flow fields in the entire flow domain
and over spillway respectively. The simulated results indicated
the location of critical flow section very close to that of spillway
crest, indicating the change of flow regime from subcritical to
supercritical flow.
4.1.4 Sensitivity analysis
The computational flow domain involves a part of the reservoir
where the flow is relatively slow and stable and the rapidly chang-
ing spillway portion. Hence the entire domain was decomposed
into two zones to economize the computational effort. Two-zone
mesh system was generated for the case study of Parbati dam
spillway. First zone consists of lower portion of reservoir and
was divided into 1600 coarse cells and the second zone consists
of upper part of reservoir and spillway, which was divided into
80
6000 relatively fine cells. Figure 6 shows the two-zone mesh
system. The model simulation showed that there was significant
reduction in the computational effort required for convergence
of solution. Single zone system required four and half hours of
computer time and 5 00 000 number of time steps where as two
zone mesh system required only two hours of computer time and
2 00 000 time steps for convergence of solution.
Two-zone mesh system was employed for the case study
of Parbati dam spillway to perform the sensitivity analysis for
the parameters of Mach number and Courant number. Sen-
sitivity analysis was done for 20 different combinations of
five Mach numbers (0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.05) and
four Courant numbers (0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9). Table 1 sum-
marizes the mutual influence of Mach number and Courant
number on the convergence of the solution. It may be seen
from the table that convergence was faster for higher values of
Courant number and Mach number. However, for Mach num-
bers 0.03 and above, the solution was diverging with strong
850 Bhajantri et al.

Table 1 Sensitivity analysis—number pf time steps for convergence

Courant No. Mach No.

0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05

0.6 2 20 000 1 40 000 90 000 Mild oscillations, Strong oscillations,

Diverges Diverges
0.7 2 00 000 1 20 000 80 000 Diverges Diverges
Very slow Divergence
0.8 1 70 000 1 00 000 Diverges Diverges Diverges
0.9 1 50 000 90 000 Diverges Diverges Blows off
immediately

numerical oscillations. The solution was blown off immedi- TALA SLUICE SPILLWAY, BHUTAN
ately for Mach number of 0.05 and Courant numbers of 0.85
and 0.9. 50
No. of cells = 13600

4.2 Tala sluice spillway, Bhutan 40

Tala concrete gravity dam sluice spillway is located in Bhutan.

This type of submerged spillway is more useful compared to con- Elevation in m
30
ventional overflow spillway in case of run-off river hydro-electric
projects. Such type of spillway serves the dual purpose of passing
flood and sediment disposal. For sluice type spillway, the gen- 20
eral practice is to adopt bell mouth shapes of quarter of an ellipse.
Number of experimental studies on sluice spillways has shown
that such profiles are subjected to heavy negative pressures. The 10
numerical model studies can be used to optimize the roof profile
so that pressure distribution is acceptable to avoid cavitation.
Before the dam was constructed, physical model studies were 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
undertaken at Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Distance in m
India. A 1 : 40 scale 2D sectional model incorporating one sluice Figure 7 Mesh system for Tala sluice spillway.
was constructed in a flume for studying the alternate roof pro-
files. The sluice profile was reproduced in a transparent Perspex
4.2.3 Results and discussion
by keeping the height of radial gate as 13.15 m as per design.
Figure 8 shows pressure distribution in the entire flow domain and
Piezometers were provided on the sluice roof profile along the
on solid surface of reservoir and sluice roof after the convergence
center of the span for pressure measurements. The studies were
conducted with ungated operation of sluice spillway for the
standard project flood of 8575 m3 sec.−1 Pr. in m
PRESSURE DISTRIBUTION 41.8022
38.4636
35.1249
4.2.1 Numerical modeling 50
31.7863
28.4477
Single zone body fitted mesh system was generated for the numer- 25.1091
21.7705
ical modeling. Parts of the prototype simulated in the numerical 18.4319
15.0933
model include: a part of the reservoir (40 m long and 45 m deep) 40
11.7547
8.4161
and sluice spillway of length 20 m and height 13.15 m. Figure 7
Elevation in m

5.07749
shows the mesh system. The flow domain is discretized into 1.73888
30 -1.59972
13600 (170 × 80 = 13600) quadrilateral cells. -4.93833

20
4.2.2 Boundary and initial conditions
Numerical simulation was done for the standard project flood
of 8575 m3 sec−1 . The corresponding discharge intensity works 10
out to be 263.8 m3 sec−1 m−1 . The depth of flow over sluice sill
level is 35 m. The remaining boundary conditions such as open
boundaries at the upstream and downstream end, free surface and 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
solid boundary were considered as described in previous case Distance in m
study. Figure 8 Pressure distribution for Tala sluice spillway.
 Modeling hydrodynamic flow over spillway 851

Pressure Profiles on Sluice Roof and Bottom Surface VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION IN THE
50 SLUICE BARREL
RESERVOIR WATER LEVEL 30
45

40 vector scale : 1 cm= 25 m/sec

35
Bottom pressure 25
30
Elevation in m

Roof pressure

Elevation in m
25

20
Observed pressures 20
on physical model
15

10

5
15
0

-5

-10
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 10
Distance in m
40 45 50 55 60
Figure 9 Comparison of pressure profile with physical model results. Distance in m
Figure 10b Velocity distribution in the sluice barrel for the Tala sluice
spillway.

VELOCITY AND STREAMLINE DISTRIBUTION

VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION
vector scale : 1 cm = 25 m/sec
50 vector scale : 1 cm = 25 m/sec
50 Reservoir Water Level
Reservoir Water Level

40 40
Elevation in m
Elevation in m

30
30

20
20

10
10

0
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Distance in m Distance in m
Figure 10a Velocity distribution for the Tala sluice spillway. Figure 11 Streamline distribution for the Tala sluice spillway.

a separation zone was seen on the sill level of the entrance of

of solution. The piezometric pressures on sluice roof profile
observed on the physical model were compared with the sim-
ulated pressures, as shown in Fig. 9. Good agreement was found
between the calculated values and experimental data. Figure 10
shows the velocity distribution and Fig. 11 shows the streamline
pattern in the sluice barrel. The computed and experimental val-
ues of coefficient of discharge were 0.87 and 0.85 indicating good
agreement between the physical model and numerical model. The
numerical model indicated the location of critical flow section
near the entrance of the sluice barrel. It was also observed that
the bottom sluice profile was not guiding the streamlines enter-
ing the sluice from the bottom properly, as a result of which
the sluice.
5 Concluding remarks
In this paper, a finite volume based numerical model using weakly
compressible flow equations was presented to investigate the
hydraulic characteristics of flow over spillway crest profile by
simulating the velocity distribution, pressure distribution and dis-
charge characteristics. Numerical simulation of hydrodynamic
flow over two different types of spillways has been carried out.
The numerical results in respect of water surface profile, dis-
charge coefficients and pressure distribution have been compared
852 Bhajantri et al.
with the results of physical model studies. There was reason-
able agreement between the simulated values and experimental
results. The calculated values of coefficient of discharge were
slightly higher than the observed values for both cases. The pos-
sible reason may be due to the omission of viscous terms and tur-
bulence, which generally will induce damping effect in the flow.
Numerical experimentation with improved mesh system of
two zones for Parbati dam spillway optimized the computational
effort. Hence, two-zone mesh system was employed to perform
sensitivity analysis of Mach number and Courant number for
convergence of solution. The convergence was faster for higher
values of Courant number and Mach number. However, for Mach
numbers 0.03 and above, the solution was diverging with strong
numerical oscillations. The solution was blown off immediately
for Mach number of 0.05 and Courant numbers of 0.85 and 0.9.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Prof. Charles C. S. Song, Univer-
sity of Minnesota, USA and Director, Central Water and Power
Research Station, Pune for providing facilities and training on
model development described in this paper.
Notation
a = Sound speed
g = Acceleration due to gravity
K = Bulk modulus of elasticity
M = Mach number
n = Unit vector normal to the free surface
p = Pressure
s = Surface area of the control volume
t = Time
V = Velocity
vf = Free surface velocity in the vertical direction
x, y = Cartesian coordinates in two dimensions
Zf = Free surface displacement along the normal direction
ρ = Density of fluid
t = Time step
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