Analysis of the discharge capacity of radial-gated spillways using CFD and ANN – Oliana Dam case study

Abstract

The paper focuses on the analysis of radial-gated spillways, which is carried out by the solution of a numerical model based on the finite element method (FEM). The Oliana Dam is considered as a case study and the discharge capacity is predicted both by the application of a level-set-based free-surface solver and by the use of traditional empirical formulations. The results of the analysis are then used for training an artificial neural network to allow real-time predictions of the discharge in any situation of energy head and gate opening within the operation range of the reservoir. The comparison of the results obtained with the different methods shows that numerical models such as the FEM can be useful as a predictive tool for the analysis of the hydraulic performance of radial-gated spillways.

Keywords:

• ANN
• CFD
• discharge coefficient
• Kratos
• radial gates
• spillways

Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the SAFECON project of the European Research Council (ERC), as well as by the ALCON project (ref. IPT-310000-2010-11) funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). Special thanks are due to Gonzalo Rabasa (Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro) and Francisco Riquelme (INHISA) for promoting this research. \notation