Reservoir Routing

---

“This procedure derives the outflow hydrograph from a reservoir from the inflow hydrograph into the reservoir with consideration of elevation, storage, and discharge characteristics of the reservoir and spillways. The conservation of mass equation is solved with the assumption that outflow discharge and volume of storage are directly related.”

“For reservoirs, the relation of surface area and release capacity to storage content must be described. Characteristics of the control gates on the outlets and spillway must be known in order to determine constraints on operation. The top-of-dam elevation must be specified and the ability of the structure to withstand overtopping must be assessed.” .

Best Practices Resources

Design Standards No. 14: Appurtenant Structures for Dams (Ch. 3: General Spillway Design Considerations), USBR, 2022

Technical Release 210-60: Earth Dams and Reservoirs, NRCS, 2019

Engineering Guidelines for the Evaluation of Hydropower Projects: Chapter 2- Selecting and Accommodating Inflow Design Floods for Dams, FERC, 2015

National Engineering Handbook: Chapter 17 - Flood Routing, NRCS, 2014

Selecting and Accommodating Inflow Design Floods for Dams (FEMA P-94), FEMA, 2013

Engineering Guidelines for the Evaluation of Hydropower Projects: Chapter 8- Determination of the Probable Maximum Flood, FERC, 2001

Hydrologic Engineering Requirements for Reservoirs (EM 1110-2-1420), USACE, 1997

Hydraulic Design of Spillways (EM 1110-2-1603), USACE, 1992

Trainings

On-Demand Webinar: Inspection and Assessment of Spillways

On-Demand Webinar: Inlet and Outlet Hydraulics for Spillways and Outlet Structures

On-Demand Webinar: Designing Spillways to Mitigate Failure Modes

On-Demand Webinar: Introduction to Addressing Inadequate Conveyance Capacity at Dams

Citations:

Revision ID: 6007
Revision Date: 12/19/2022