A novel design for stepped spillway using staggered labyrinth trapezoidal steps

Abstract

Stepped spillways are water structures that have attracted researchers' attention recently. There are many studies on the flow characteristics of different step geometry. In this study, trapezoidal labyrinth-shaped stepped spillways were designed in-line and staggered, and their energy dissipation rates were investigated numerically. OpenFOAM software and the k-ω SST turbulence model were used for numerical analyses. According to the results, the energy dissipation performance of the two-cycle trapezoidal labyrinth step spillway was about 20% higher than the classical one. It was observed that the effective crest length of the trapezoidal steps did not affect the energy dissipation rate much, and the staggered designed steps were more successful than the in-line designed ones. In addition, with the increase in the number of cycles in the same magnification ratio, more energy is dissipated at low flow rates. At the same time, two-cycle labyrinth steps are more effective at high flow rates.