Development of a software to design wedge-shaped block spillways.

The new hydrological safety requirements lead to an increment of the return periods used to estimate the design flood of a certain dam. In some cases, the consideration of a flood corresponding to a wider return period could result in overtopping due to the consumption of the freeboard, a process for which the majority of dams were not designed. As a result, these dams constructed in the past need to be suited to these new requirements.

The current economical paradigm forces to pursuit new cost effective solutions that guarantee the safety of dams. These circumstances drove countries as USA to publish technical guidelines about dam protections to face overtopping events that include general design criteria but not detailed methodologies for dimensioning nor recommendations for the calculation of these type of protections.

Based on these issues, PREHORQUI, S.A. initiated in 2011 with the project ACUÑA a research strategy focused on increasing its market share and improve its competitiveness in the precast elements market for hydraulic infrastructures. Continuing this research line and employing the product obtained during the development of ACUÑA, this project pretended to develop a software for structural and hydraulic design of this specific spillway typology constructed with wedge-shaped blocks.

Participants:

This R&D project has been funded by: