Analysis of the discharge capacity of radial gated spillways using numerical modelling application to Oliana dam

Abstract

Current paper focuses on the analysis of radial gated spillways, which are analyzed by the solution of a numerical model. The Oliana Dam study case is considered 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 in training an Artificial Neural Network so 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 can be useful as a predictive tool for the analysis of the hydraulic performance of radial-gated spillways, and highlights some drawbacks regarding the application of the empirical formulas.

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