Hydraulic Performance of Spillways

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All dams need adequate spillway capacity. Learn more at DamFailures.org

The hydraulic performance of a spillway is a function of many complex variables. Analyses related to spillway hydraulics include:

• Reservoir Routing
• Spillway Approach Hydraulics
• Spillway Control Structures
• Spillway Chute Hydraulics
• Spillway Terminal Structure Hydraulics
• Cavitation
• Stagnation Pressures

Examples

Lesson Learned: High and significant hazard dams should be designed to pass an appropriate design flood. Dams constructed prior to the availability of extreme rainfall data should be assessed to make sure they have adequate spillway capacity (DamFailures.org)

Citations:

Revision ID: 5430
Revision Date: 12/13/2022