This work presents numerical simulations carried out to study the influence of geometric characteristics of pooled steps on the energy dissipation performance, flow patterns properties, velocity rates, and pressure distributions over a spillway. The localization of the inception point of air entrainment was also assessed, being a key design parameter of spillways. With this aim, different configurations of steps were taken in account, including flat, pooled, and notch pooled types. The computational procedure was first validated with experimental results from the literature and then used to test the hydraulic behavior derived from different geometric configurations. The flat step configuration showed the best energy dissipation performance as compared with other configurations. With the notched pooled step configuration, the efficiency performance of the pooled structure improved by about 5.8%. The interfacial velocities of the flat stepped spillway were smaller than those of the pooled structure. The pressure value at the beginning of the step in the pooled configuration was larger than the flat configuration, while for the notched pool the maximum pressure values decreased near the step pool. Pool configuration (simple or notched) did not have a significant influence on the location of air entrainment.

Side weirs are important structural measures extensively used, for instance, for regulating water levels in rivers and canals. If the length of the opening is limited, the amount of water diverted out of the channel and the effective length can be increased by applying a labyrinth side weir. The present study deals with numerical simulations regarding the hydraulic performance of a labyrinth side weir with a triangular plan in single-cycle mode. Specifically, six different types of antivortexes embedded inside it and in various hydraulic conditions at different Froude numbers are analyzed. The antivortexes are studied using two groups, permeable and impermeable, with three different heights: 0.5 P, 0.75 P, and 1 P (P: Weir height). The comparison of the simulated water surface profiles with laboratory results shows that the numerical model is able to capture the flow characteristics on the labyrinth side weir. The use of an antivortex in a triangular labyrinth side weir reduces the secondary flows due to the interaction with the transverse vortexes of the vertical axis and increases the discharge capacity by 11%. Antivortexes in a permeable state outperform those in an impermeable state; the discharge coefficient in the permeable state increases up to 3% with respect to the impermeable state. Finally, based on an examination of the best type of antivortex, taking into account shape, permeability, and height, the discharge coefficient increases to 13.4% compared to a conventional labyrinth side weir.

In the stepped spillway, the steps, by providing an artificial roughening bed, dissipate the flow of energy more than other types of spillways, so the construction costs for stilling basin are reduced. However, what is important in this type of spillway is increasing the effectiveness of steps in the rate of energy dissipation. The present study deals with experimental and numerical simulations regarding the influence of geometric appendance elements on the steps and its impact on the energy dissipation performances, flow patterns properties, turbulent kinetic energy, flow resistance and the Darcy roughness. The localization of inception point of air entrainment is also assessed. To this aim, different configurations are taken into account. The computational procedure is validated with experimental results and then used to test the hydraulic behavior of different geometric configurations. The results showed that the appendance elements on the steps increased the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) values and Darcy–Weisbach friction and the energy dissipation increased significantly. By reducing the height of the elements, energy dissipation and the TKE value increase more significantly. With the appendance elements on step, the air entrainment inception locations a positioning further upstream than the flat step stepped spillway.