Senior Engineer South Florida Water Management District
This study investigates the flow dynamics and interactions at multi-gated and dual spillways. When a spillway with multiple gates or multiple spillways in proximity shares the same headwater pool and discharges into the same downstream area, their hydrodynamic interactions can influence the total discharge. It is observed that the actual total discharge of two dual spillways or a spillway with multiple gates can differ significantly from the theoretically combined singular operation discharge of each gate or spillway. This study employed Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modeling at a six-gated spillway S-65E in the Kissimmee River, and dual spillways S-333 and S-333N in the Miami-Dade County to investigate the flow dynamics behavior and discharge interference during conjunctive operations. Numerical modeling revealed that multi-operation (both dual spillways operating at the same time, or more than one gate at a spillway operating) could result in up to 7% reduction in the total conveyance capacity of the spillways. Such discharge reduction may have implications on the flood control, water supply management and operation.
