Energy dissipation by vertically placed screens

Abstract

Screens can be utilized efficiently for dissipating energy of water. In this study, water flowing beneath a gate is used to simulate the flow downstream of a small hydraulic structure, and vertically placed screens are used as an alternative tool for energy dissipation. Investigations are conducted using a series of experiments. The porosity, thickness, and location of the screens are the major parameters together with the Froude number of the upstream flow. The experiments cover a range of supercritical Froude numbers between 5.0 and 18.0, porosities between 20% and 60%, and screen locations up to 100 times the undisturbed upstream flow depth. The thicknesses of the screens used are in the order of the undisturbed upstream flow depth. The results show the importance of each parameter in the energy-dissipating performance of the screens and the system. It is observed that screens dissipate significantly more energy than a conventional hydraulic jump within the large range of Froude numbers covered in the study. The results are also in agreement with the results of an earlier similar study.Key words: screen, energy dissipation, hydraulic jump, porosity, supercritical flow.