2012 – Piano Key Weir: An Innovative Spillway Upgrade Solution

Mike Phillips, Kelly Maslin

A spillway upgrade conceptual design and selection process was undertaken to identify options for upgrading the Dartmouth Dam to pass the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). A number of upgrade options were investigated, including variations of dam raise heights and spillway modifications. One of the options, the piano key weir, was initially developed from the limited available publications on the weir design, and further developed with the use of a 1:60 scale model. The piano key weir, a variation of the labyrinth weir, is a passive spillway that utilises a total weir length several times that of the effective spillway width. For the Dartmouth Dam study, the piano key weir design that was developed consisted of a 7-cycle, 9 m high structure, with a total weir length of nearly 600 m, or more than 6 times the existing effective spillway width of 91 m. The spillway was designed to pass the routed PMF outflow of approximately11,500 m3/s with a head of approximately 11 m.
The piano key weir design was developed using the following analyses:
 Initial 1:60 scale physical model of the piano key weir based on published papers on piano key weirs and design manuals for labyrinth weirs;
 Structural analysis and weir member sizing using initial physical model results;
 Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) modelling to improve the hydraulic efficiency of the weir for the range of flows;
 Revised 1:60 scale physical model of the piano key weir; and
 Confirmation of conceptual structure design.
This paper describes the process of developing the piano key weir option for the Dartmouth Dam spillway and lessons learned.
Keywords: Piano key weir, CFD, spillway, physical model

 

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