The Baffle Blocks Effects of Pressure Characteristics on USBR III Basin Floor

Abstract

The principle of energy dissipation in stilling basin is based on hydraulic jump formation. Due to the inherent fluctuating characteristic of the hydraulic jump, basin floor is subjected to variations of pressure, resulting in unstableness due to uplift forces. To increase the efficiency of the stilling basins and improve the energy dissipation rate, one or two rows of baffle blocks are applied on the basin floor. Causing a forced hydraulic jump, tension and compression forces are exerted by pressure fluctuations of rotating roller zone of hydraulic jump. In this investigation, to observe the impacts of baffle blocks on pressure fluctuations on basin floor, a standard USBR basin model type III was constructed, and then a second row of blocks was added to the basin. A set of pressure tubes was fixed along the axis of the basin to measure the static and dynamic pressures on basin floor. The results were expressed in dimensionless parameters including C-p, C+p, C’p, Cp. Also, power spectra of pressure fluctuations were calculated. The results show a decreasing trend in root mean square of pressure fluctuations as distancing from toe of jump along the basin with and without baffle blocks. Also, mean pressure increases when water jet strokes the basin then decreases under roller zone of jump and increases again after sequent depth. The spectral analysis indicates that the dominant frequency is between 10 rad/s and 35 rad/s and pressure fluctuations have low frequency characteristics.