Étude de la dissipation d'énergie sur un coursier en marches d'escalier en aval d'un évacuateur de crue de type PKW

The present research follows a previous study led by Erpicum et al. in 20112. The main purpose of this study is to affirm by experiments the theory, which states that in some particular cases, using a piano key weir (PKW) at the top of a stepped spillway instead of a standard ungated spillway with an equal length would result in an increased dissipation of energy. Another way to present this theory is to show that specific geometrical dimensions of the piano key weir can be determined to reach an uniform flow for reduced dimensions of stepped spillways (compared to standard ungated weir). The second goal is to set up analytical methods enabling the evaluation of the energy dissipation on this kind of construction using basic data’s (ex. inclination and geometry of the spillway, geometry of the steps on the spillway, flow,…).
In order to reach those objectives, a series of experiments has been executed on a facility at the HECE laboratory. The tests allowed us to acquire different hydraulic parameters that have been used to calculate the energy dissipation on the reduced bench test. It is important to notice that we used an
experimental analyzing method for signals.
First of all, we have been able to prove the validity of the initial theory using the results of the tests on the facility. Secondly, the analyze and interpretation of the results led us to define criteria’s indicating the apparition of the uniform or non uniform flow depending of the kind of weir used on the spillway. Finally, using the results of the tests we established some analytical formulas for each kind of flow on a free weir and a PKW. Those analytical formulas present a correlation with experiments moreless accurate depending on the interpolation choosen and the set of bench tests realized.