1.

Spillways
Spillway Design:
The purpose of the spillway is to pass flood water, and in particular
the design flood, safely downstream when the reservoir is overflowing.
Spillways are normally uncontrolled, i.e. they function automatically as
the water level rises above NWL, but they may be controlled by gates. In
some instances additional emergency spillway capacity is provided by a fuse
plug i.e. an erodible subsidiary bank designed to wash out if a predetermined
extreme flood level is attained. Alternative emergency provision can be made
by reinforced concrete flap-gates designed to tip over by hydrostatic
pressure under extreme flood conditions or by the use of crest-mounted
fusegates (see Section 6.2.8). Concrete dams normally incorporate an
overfall or crest spillway, but embankments generally require a separate
side-channel or shaft spillway structure located adjacent to the dam.
Classification of Spillways:
o According to function:
(Main) Service Spillways
Emergency Spillways
Auxiliary Spillways
o According to mode of control:
Free (Uncontrolled) Spillways
Gated (Controlled) Spillways
o According to hydraulic criteria:
Overfall Spillways
Side channel Spillways
Chute Spillways
Shaft Spillways
Siphon Spillways
Tunnel Spillways: free flowing or under pressure, usually convey flow
from side channel or shaft spillways. Large-capacity outlets placed
below the dam crest and controlled by gates are usually called orifice
or submerged spillways.

Spillway Components:

o Controlling Spillweir
o Spillway Channel:
to conduct flood flows safely downstream of the dam. The
latter may incorporate a stilling basin or other energydissipating devices. The spillway capacity must safely
accommodate the maximum design flood, the spillweir level
dictating the maximum retention level of the dam, i.e. the
normal maximum water level (NWL).
2. FREEBOARD
Freeboard is the vertical distance between the top of the dam and
the full supply level in the reservoir; the top of the dam is the highest
watertight level of the structure and could thus be the top of a watertight
parapet.
Components:
o Rise in reservoir level due to flood routing.
o Seiche effects: periodic undulations of the reservoir, are usually ignored,
particularly in medium-sized reservoirs, and their effect is included in a
safety margin added to the other freeboard components.
o Wind set-up of the water surface : results from the shear induced by
continuous wind (or regular gusts in one direction). Its value will depend
on the reservoir depth, dr (m), wind fetch, F (km) (the maximum free
distance which wind can travel over the reservoir), the angle of the wind
to the fetch, _, and the wind speed U (kmh_1) measured at a height of 10
m.
o Wave action and run-up of waves on the dam : The run-up of waves on the
upstream dam face, i.e. the maximum vertical height attained by a wave
running up a dam face, referred to the steady water level without wind
action, depends primarily on the wave height, the depth in front of the
dam, the geometry and material of the upstream face of the dam, and
the approach conditions in the reservoir.