The Employment of the Finite Element Method in the Analysis of Flow over Ogee Spillways and the Velocity Error Evaluation

Accurate and suitable design of spillways as major parts of dams is very important in the stability and safety of dams. Hydraulic characteristics of flow are determined by benefiting from physical models, however, they are expensive and time-consuming to construct. These difficulties maybe overcome by the development of mathematical models using the numerical methods. The potential flow model is one of the mathematical flow models which used in this research. In this model, flow is assumed incompressible, non- viscous and irrotational. Flow characteristics over an ogee spillway were analyzed using the finite element method to develop a mathematical model. The results of numerical method compared with experimental values and the amount of error estimated. A good agreement was reached between the theoretical and experimental values