Characteristics of air flow driven by the water free surface in a free-flow spillway tunnel

Abstract

Air is transported downstream by the water flow in a free-flow spillway tunnel, resulting in high negative pressure, which causes gate vibration and cavitation. In this research work, a physical model of a free-flow spillway tunnel was used to investigate the effects of water surface velocity and the area residual of tunnel cross sections on air movements. The results demonstrate that the air velocity distribution forms an S-shaped curve. As the water surface velocity increases or the area residual decreases, the air velocity increases, and the relative action height of the drag force of water flow on the air increases as well. The air velocity distribution is divided into two exponential distributions at the position where the air velocity drops by 0.2 times that of the water surface velocity. Two formulas for calculating the air velocity of the corresponding exponential distributions are developed. Subsequently, an algorithm for the air demand is presented, and the relative error compared to the reference data was less than ±20%. These results provide a reference for free-flow spillway tunnel ventilation shaft design.