INFLUENCING FACTORS FOR THE ENERGY DISSIPATION RATIO OF STEPPED SPILLWAYS

In order to search for the measure to increase the energy dissipation ratio of stepped spillways, some main influencing factors for the energy dissipation ratio of stepped spillways, such as unit discharge, dam slope, height of step and so on, were studied. The results show that the energy dissipation ratio decreases with the increase in the unit discharge and increases as the slope becomes gentle. The effects of step height on the energy dissipation ratio are closely related to unit discharge. If the unit discharge is smaller, the change of energy dissipation ratio with step height becomes greater. While, if the unit discharge is greater, the influence of step height on energy dissipation ratio is very little. According to the distributions of the turbulence kinetic energy and turbulence dissipation rate obtained by numerical simulation, the basic reason of the decrease of energy dissipation ratio with the increase in the unit discharge was discussed and some specific measures to increase the energy dissipation ratio were suggested.