Abstract
Due to high flow velocity, the spillway surfaces of high-head dams can expose to cavitational damage. The most effective and economical method of protection from this damage is aerated to flow using aerators. In this study, a spillway aerator of the roller-compacted concrete dam of 100 m height was analyzed using two-phase computational fluid dynamic model to overcome the cavitation damage on the spillway surface. The numerical analysis with prototype dimensions was performed for various flow conditions (5223, 3500, 1750 and 1000 m3/s of flow rate), and obtained results were compared with some experimental observation in the literature. Numerical and experimental results indicated that the cavitation occurs on the surface after a certain downstream point based on cavitation indices. The air entrainment rate and air concentrations supplied by means of the aerator were determined to avoid the cavitational damage. While the experimental results can contain considerable scale effect in terms of air entrainment rate owing to, e.g., viscous effects especially for small scales, the numerical models with prototype dimensions gave much more accurate results. In other words, it can be also mentioned that the actual aeration amount is much greater than that obtained from the model experiments. The results based on numerical analysis showed that the aerator device meet air demand to prevent the cavitation damage.
Highlights
Spillways are crucial safety structures used for the discharge of flood discharges into dam reservoirs and for the operation of these dam reservoirs
In terms of body safety, it is preferred to place them in the right or the left shore in the earth-fill dams while and in the concrete dams it is placed on the body to be cost-effective
They presented a comprehensive investigation on the air–water flow properties, e.g., the interfacial area, turbulence properties and particle sizes, which may be affected by scale effects. They stated that the findings of the study are applicable to the other air–water flow type, but the prototype data were needed for final confirmation. It is understanding from above researchers, for scaled model of hydraulic structures, while the scale effects are insignificant for some flow parameters such as discharge flow rate, water surface and pressures, it can be quite important for high-velocity air–water mixture flow, e.g., spillway flows with an aerator
Summary
Spillways are crucial safety structures used for the discharge of flood discharges into dam reservoirs and for the operation of these dam reservoirs. In terms of body safety, it is preferred to place them in the right or the left shore in the earth-fill dams while and in the concrete dams it is placed on the body to be cost-effective. In arch dams, they can be placed on the body due to the shortage of space. As a new type which has been preferred in recent years, roller-compacted concrete dams (RCC) can be constructed as safe and economical as dams. In these dams, thanks to its solid body, spillways can be placed on the body
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