Advances in Spillway Hydraulics: From Theory to Practice

Dear Colleagues,

In the past decades, significant advances have been achieved in the field of hydraulic structures for dams, in particular water release structures including spillways with chutes and their terminal energy dissipators. In addition to recent innovative projects, a large number of older spillways have been reexamined with regard to their suitability to pass the revised design flood estimates. Of these, many contain features which create complex flow patterns and make prediction of spillway capacity and performance uncertain. On the other hand, safe and reliable spillways are of paramount importance, considering that many dam failures were caused by improperly designed spillways with insufficient discharge capacity. In addition to providing sufficient discharge capacity, the arrangement of the spillway must be such that releases do not erode or undermine the downstream toe of the dam and its abutments.

In particular, the past few decades have witnessed a significant development in spillway design and in the understanding of spillway hydraulics, for a variety of reasons, such as recent advances in construction technology (e.g., roller-compacted concrete and cemented soil dams for new projects or for rehabilitation), large-scale model studies making use of sophisticated instrumentation (e.g., conductivity or fiber-optical probes for measuring macroscopic and microscopic air-water flow features, optical and LiDAR techniques), computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling applied to complex designs, prototype experience, as well as composite or hybrid modeling.

This Special Issue focuses on recent advances in spillway hydraulics, covering theory and applications. Topics that have not been sufficiently covered in standard design guidance are also welcome, including practical design considerations, as well as new developments from the operation, maintenance, and inspection of spillways and respective intake or terminal structures.

Prof. Dr. Jorge Matos
Dr. Sébastien Erpicum
Prof. Dr. Anton J. Schleiss
Guest Editors

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