Civil engineering group project

 

This project was a typical example of a 'live' joint project with industry. The company - in this case Severn Trent Water - gives the same brief to both a contractor (Mott MacDonald) and the students at the same time.

Severn Trent Water wanted to find out the effect of the disparities between the bell-mouth spillway as designed in the 1960s, compared to the as built structure at Tittlesworth Reservoir in Staffordshire.

Reservoir safety standards have also increased in the intervening period and the reservoir has to be able to safely pass a probable maximum flood. In such an extreme event a build up of reservoir level and ultimately over-topping of the dam would occur. Prolonged over-topping would cause the downstream face of the dam to erode, which in turn would cause the dam to fail. The original design drawings specify a smooth bend between the vertical and horizontal, but the as constructed structure has a sharp 90^o corner. This change in geometry could induce turbulent flow and air entrainment, which would limit the maximum capacity of the spillway thus causing a build up of water level.

Aim

To investigate the discharge capacity of the morning glory spillway (pictured right). To review how this is influenced by the geometry of the tunnel structures beneath the spillway and the downstream stilling basin.

Objectives

 

Hydrology

Research the whole catchment area upstream of the reservoir, in order to determine the maximum possible flow rate into the reservoir and out through the spillway.

Physical Model

Design and construct an accurate scale model of the structure and test the required specification.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

Develop a CFD model to analyse fluid flow and validate the physical model testing.

Full project details