Numerical Study of Energy Dissipation in Baffled Stepped Spillway Using Flow-3D

Abstract

One of the most obvious characteristics of spillways is their energy consumption, which has been extensively researched to understand how to estimate and increase it. Among these spillways, stepped spillways exhibit significant energy consumption potential compared to other types due to the artificial roughness of the bed. In this study, hydraulic modeling of the baffled stepped spillway in three dimensions and the two-phase flow system was conducted using FLOW-3D software. The results obtained were then compared with relevant laboratory experiments. Upon examining the modeling results, it was observed that the unique shape of the blocks in the aforementioned structure led to an increase in flow irregularity, resulting in a 77% reduction in flow energy. The proximity of the numerical model's results to the experimental model (RMSE=0.02) indicates that numerical methods can effectively simulate hydraulic behavior. Overall, it can be concluded that numerical methods are well-suited for accurately simulating hydraulic behavior.