Energy Dissipation on Stepped Spillways

Abstract

Potentially high energy dissipation on stepped overflow spillways would imply a significant reduction of the size of downstream stilling basins. The amount of energy loss on such spillways under skimming‐flow conditions is examined experimentally for structures with a moderate number of steps and a width‐to‐height ratio equal to 0.7. The experimental results, supported by dimensional considerations, indicate that the most important parameters governing energy dissipation are the ratio of the critical depth of flow passing over the spillway to the step height