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Lect.No.9
Asst.Prof.Dr. Jaafar S. Maatooq
2nd Semester

Barrages , Regulators , Dams

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In order to harness the water potential of a river optimally, it is necessary to

construct two types of hydraulic structures, as shown in Figure 1. These are:
1. Storage structure : Usually a dam, which acts like a reservoir for storing excess
runoff of a river during periods of high flows and releasing it according to a
regulated schedule.
2. Diversion structure : which may be a weir or a barrage that raises the water
level of the river slightly, not for creating storage, but for allowing the water to get
diverted through a canal situated at one or either of its banks. The diverted water
passed through the canal may be used for irrigation, industry, domestic water needs
or power generation.

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1-Diversion Structures :
1-1 Barrages :
A barrage, by definition, is a weir structure fitted with gates to regulate the
water level in the pool behind in order to divert water through a canal for
irrigation, power generation, and flow augmentation to another river .
The barrages may be classified as being located in the following four types of river
regimes:
- Mountainous and sub-mountainous .
- Alluvial and deltaic .
The barrages constructed in these different types of rivers have their own
advantages and disadvantages, as discussed below:
* Advantages
- The mountainous and sub-mountainous regions ; are suitable for locating a
diversion structure for hydroelectric power schemes due to the availability of high
heads and less siltation problems. For power canals (usually called power channels)
the difference in elevations can be effectively utilized by generating hydro-power .
- The disadvantageous of a large number of drops For the canal taking off from
the barrage located in the mountainous and sub-mountainous regions , but it give a
beneficial if it employment with a hydro-electric power generating units .
* Disadvantages
- For irrigation canals taking off from the barrage , the service area (where the
water would actually be used for irrigation) will start after a long distance from the
barrage ,so the length of the canal would be more than that when the barrage
constructed for alluvial and deltaic river .

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- There would be more number of drainages structures (e.g. Culverts ) needs for
hilly streams that has to be crossed by the canal as compared to the one in the
plains ( alluvial and deltaic rivers ) .
- For the canal taking off from the barrage located in the mountainous and submountainous regions the relatively larger changes in elevation than the canals
passing through alluvial or deltaic stretches of rivers ; accordingly a large number
of drops have to be provided . Some times , the canal drops have been combined
with a hydro-electric power generating unit, as shown in Figure 3.

- Steps for planning, layout, design, construction and operation of barrages

The successful working of a barrage depends on a proper selection of the
location, alignment, layout, design and operation of the structure. Hence, the
following aspects have to be carefully looked in Barrage working :Site investigation and data collection ;
This consists of :-

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1- Study of available maps and satellite imageries ,

2- Regional and site geology ,
3- Study of foundation strata ,
4- Study of available hydrological data ,
5- Assessment of water needed for diversion ,
6- Effect of the barrage on environment ,
7- Limitations on water withdrawal ,
8- Availability of construction material ,
9- Communication to the site of work ,
10- Detailed topographical survey ,
11- Hydro-meteorological data ,
12- Sediment concentration data ,
13-Pond survey ,
14- Study of navigation and fish ,
15- Study for power generation , and
16- Study for provision of a rail or a road bridge across the barrage .
Location and alignment selection of the barrage axis ;
The location for a barrage should be decided on considerations of suitability for the
main structure (barrage) and its appurtenant works, like silt removing devices and
intake for canals (also called canal head regulators). An ideal location would
be that which satisfies the requirements of all these three components. Some of
the points that have to be kept in mind in selecting an appropriate location for a
barrage are as follows:
1- The canal head regulators (or head-works, as they are called) must planned to
be suitable to divert water to a canal for irrigation , by achieve a barrage of
reasonable height. The combined cost of construction of head-works and that

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of the canal from the barrage up to the point where the water is first used for
irrigation should be small.
2- The favorable location for fixing the site for a barrage and canal head- works
may have to be selected due to large quantities of rock excavation required.
3- The river reach at the proposed location should be straight, as far as possible,
so that velocities may be uniform and the sectional area of the river fairly
constant.
Planning, layout of the barrage and its appurtenant structures ;
The location and alignment of the barrage axis and that of the canal head works
may be decided but the other details, like the width of the barrage and regulator,
levels crests, lengths of floors, river training works, pond level , etc. have to be
finalized based on the hydraulic conditions and geologic characteristics of the river
bed and banks of the site. The major planning aspects are as follows:
1- Design flood ; The diversion structure has to be designed in such a way that it
may be able to pass a high flood of sufficient magnitude (called the design
flood) safely. It is assumed that when the design flood passes the structure all
the gates of the structure are fully open and it acts like a weir across the river
with only the obstruction of the piers between the abutments. (see fig. below)

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2- Afflux ; The structure would cause a rise in the water level on the upstream
compared to level in the downstream at the time of passage of a high flood
(equal to or more than the design flood) with all the gates open. This rise in
water level on the upstream is called afflux. (see fig. below) .

3- Free Board ; When the permissible afflux is decided, the necessary upstream,
sufficient Free Board has to be provided so that there is no overtopping of the
water over the barrage and banks . The Free Board to be provided depends on
the importance of the structure generally, 1.5 to 2 m Free Board above the
afflux water level on the upstream is provided.
4- Pond Level ; Pond level is the level of water, immediately upstream of the
barrage, which is required to divert a water into the main irrigation canal with
its full supply. The pond level is measured by adding the energy losses
through the head regulator of canal to the full supply level of the canal at its
starting point just downstream of the head regulator . (see fig. below)

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5- Waterway ; The waterway, is the clear opening of a barrage to allow flood

flow to pass has a bearing on the afflux. Hence, a maximum limit placed on
the afflux also limits the minimum waterway. Many a times, the Laceys
stable perimeter for the highest flood discharge is taken as the basis of
calculating the waterway , where :-

P = 4.83 Q1/2
Q is the design flood discharge in m3/s for the 50 year frequency flood.
6- River training works ; This works needs to , guide the river to flow axially
through the barrage , Proper alignment of guide bunds is essential to ensure
satisfactory flow conditions in the vicinity of the barrage. In case of wide
alluvial banks, the length and curvature at the head of the guide bunds should
be kept such that the worst meander loop is kept away from either the canal
embankment or the approach embankment. (see fig. below)

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7- Crest levels of spillway ; The bays of a barrage are in the shape of weirs or
spillways and the crest levels of these have to be decided correctly. Some of
the bays towards the canal end of the barrage are provided with lower crest
(Figure 12) in order to:
Maintain a clear and well defined river channel towards the canal head
regulator .
Enable the canal to draw silt free water from surface only as much as
possible .
Scour the silt deposited in front of the head regulator .
(see fig. below)

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8- Spillway bays ; This is the main body of the barrage for controlling the
discharges and to raise the water level to the desired value to feed the canals.
It is a reinforced concrete structure designed as a raft foundation supporting
the weight of the gates, piers and the bridge above to prevent sinking into the
sandy river bed foundation. The Figures below illustrate a typical feature and
section of a spillway bay .

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9- Cut-off ; Cut-offs are barriers provided below the floor of the barrage both at
the upstream and the downstream ends. They may be in the form of concrete
lungs or steel sheet-piles, The purpose of providing cutoff is to increases the
flow path and reduces the uplift pressure, that resulting due to the differential
pressure head between upstream and downstream which cause uplift of river
bed particles against the barrage floor , thus the cut-off ensuring stability to
the structure . (see fig. below)

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10Silt excluding devices ; The silt excluding tunnels carry heavy silt down
the river below the under sluices. It is a thin, vertical, curved parallel walled
structures constructed of plain or reinforced concrete , it is provided as a
part of the under sluice bays of the barrage floor in the river pocket adjacent to
the head regulator to minimize sediment entry into the canal through the head
regulator. As such, the excluders have to deal with alluvial materials such as
boulders, gravel, and sand or silt depending upon the parent bed material and
that which is being transported by the river. (see fig. below)

11Canal Head Regulator ; The water that enters a canal is regulated

through a Head Regulator. A typical cross section through a regulator is
shown in Figure below. As it is desirable to exclude silt as much as possible
from the head regulator, the axis of the head regulator is laid at an angle from
90o to 110o to the barrage axis .

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Hydraulic design
The hydraulic design, is need to fix the overall dimensions and profiles of the
barrage structure , this design consists of :1- Hydraulic design for sub-surface flow ; The sub-surface flow below a barrage
causes two definite instability problems, as listed and illustrated in Figure
below .
a. Uplift forces due to the sub soil pressure that tends to lift up the barrage
raft floor, and
b. Upward rising seepage forces through the river bed just down stream of the
solid apron causes sand particles to erupt upwards and tends to piping failure
of the foundation.

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2- Computation of seepage pressure and Exit gradient .

3- Hydraulics of barrage surface flow .
4- Fixing dimensions of barrage components .
5- Protection works ; Just upstream and downstream of the solid floor of the
barrage , the river bed is protected by certain methods like block protection,
loose stone apron, etc. as may be seen from Figures below , showing a
typical section of spillway of a barrage.

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Structural design .
After fixing all dimensions of barrages and related components , the structure
design must be completed by structural engineers in order to ensures that the
barrage must be able to resists all the external and internal forces such as :
Buoyancy ,
Wind forces ,
Forces due to water current ,
Differential hydrostatic pressure with the gate of one bay open and the adjacent
bay closed ,
Seismic forces, if any , and
Hydro dynamic forces due to seismic conditions .
The typical plan of barrage and related components can be illustrated with the help
of figure below .