Research Articles (Civil Engineering)

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Browsing Research Articles (Civil Engineering) by Author "Bosman, D. E."

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    Artificial aeration of stepped spillways by crest piers and flares for the mitigation of cavitation damage
    (South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 2019) Koen, J.; Bosman, D. E.; Basson, G. R.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Stepped spillways are one of the oldest spillway designs dating back to 500 B.C. With technical advances in Roller Compacted Concrete (RCC) construction, the stepped spillway has become increasingly popular over recent decades. However, the use of this spillway is limited to a maximum safe unit discharge of 25 m2/s due to the risk of cavitation. In order to increase the discharge capacity on stepped spillways, various crest pier designs were introduced for flow aeration, thereby reducing the risk of cavitation damage. These pier designs were investigated on two physical models, constructed on a scale of 1:15 and 1:50, both with a standard ogee crest profile which transit to a stepped spillway chute. Air concentration was recorded along the pseudo-bottom, while pressures were measured at the step riser. The results of the 1:15 scale model indicated that the implementation of a short bullnose pier increased the safe unit discharge capacity to 30 rm/s. The innovative Flaring Gate Pier design, which was adapted on existing spillways in China, with reported design prototype unit discharges exceeding 200 m2/s, was investigated on the 1:50 scale model. Based on the experimental results of the current study, the safe unit discharge capacity (i.e. a discharge satisfying the relevant criteria defined for this study) was increased to 50 m2/s with an X-shape Flare Gate Pier (FGP) on the spillway crest.
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    Hydraulic model study of the blowback behaviour of the bottom outlet of the Berg River Dam, South Africa
    (South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 2016) Bosman, A.; Basson, G. R.; Bosman, D. E.
    The Berg River Dam is equipped with the first multi-level draw-off environmental flood release outlet in South Africa and can release flows up to about 200 m3/s. The outlet is controlled by a radial gate at the outlet end, and is protected by a vertical emergency gate near the inlet end. Commissioning tests of the emergency gate in 2008 found that large volumes of air were expelled, instead of the expected air entrainment into the air vent, designed to reduce expected negative pressures in the conduit during emergency gate closure. This paper describes the testing of a 1:14 physical model representing the outlet works of the Berg River Dam to determine the reasons for the unexpected release of air from the outlet work's air vent, as observed in the field during the commissioning tests of the emergency gate in the outlet conduit. Simulations of continuous gate closure on the as-built physical model of the Berg River Dam outlet showed predominant inflow of air into the air vent during emergency gate closure, with intermittent short duration high-speed air releases during the stages of emergency gate openings between 37% and 25% open. The problem was determined to be one of intermittent air blowback from the outlet conduit via the air vent during the latter stage, rather than continuous air release for all stages of the gate opening operation. The cause of the blowback was found to be the constriction of flow due to a reduction in the conduit cross-section at the radial gate chamber located at the downstream end of the outlet conduit.