Numerical Modelling of Two Tier Spillway

Ravindra R. Bhate, Dr. G.A. Hinge

Abstract: Spillway flows are classical problem of gravity driven free surface flow hydraulics. These flows are very complex because they are highly turbulent and unsteady involving two phases (air & water) with a large density difference. These features pose a unique challenge to simulate these flows numerically. The two tier spillway in a combination of two spillways, an overflow spillway and a sluice spillway at bottom. A study was completed to compute flow parameters over a two tier spillway using a 2-D numerical model. Water surface profile, discharge and pressure data were recorded for different flow conditions. A commercially available computational fluid dynamics (CFD) program, which solves the Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations, was used to model the two tier spillway. The results were compared with available experimental data from 155 scale 2-D sectional physical model to assess the accuracy of numerical results and found in good agreement.

Keywords: Two tier spillway, CFD, discharging capacity, water profile, pressure profile