Hydrodynamic Performance of A-Jacks Concrete Armor Units in Riverbeds around Downstream in Flip Buckets

Abstract

The jet flipped from flip buckets hits the dam’s downstream side as a free jet with an immense amount of energy, leading to bed erosion. Erosion of river bed materials downstream of dams could affect the performance of dams or power plants by altering the tailwater depth, rendering proper designs of controlling structures or erosion reduction methods highly indispensable in this regard. Hence, the hydrodynamic performance of A-Jacks concrete armor units in controlling scour was examined in this study. A-Jacks armors are applicable as a flexible protection without environmental risks often for bed erosion control. The desirable functionality of A-Jacks armors depends on the flow hydrodynamic parameters such as velocity profile variations ( $U/U_B$ ), the Reynolds stresses ( ${\tau }_{u^{\prime }{w}^{\prime }}$ and ${\tau }_{v\prime w\prime }$ ), and the skin friction coefficient ( $C_f$ ) created as a consequence of using A-Jacks armors on beds. The size of A-Jacks elements can have a role in increasing the flow turbulence to a certain depth so that after the impact of the flow with A-Jacks armor, the vortices’ intensity as well as the shear stress affecting the bed gradually decreases. The results of the numerical model suggest that the surge in the flow turbulence energy dissipation downstream of flip buckets significantly mitigates the underlying conditions of scouring phenomena, which is evidence of A-Jacks armors’ acceptable performance in scaling down scour depths.