Reservoir routing with outflow through rockfill dams

For flood control and watershed management a model simulating the hydraulics of flow through rockfill dams is necessary. This paper describes a model for flow through rockfill dams. In the model, velocity has been introduced to the 1-D continuity equation as an exponential relationship between Reynold's number (Re) and Darcy-Weisbach coefficient (f ). The model has been calibrated by using a nonlinear optimization technique and then verified. By introducing inflow hydrograph and rockfill characteristics as input data to the model, the outflow hydrograph can be determined. The results of the developed model show good agreement with the real data. The parametric sensitivity analysis for the upstream water surface elevation demonstrates that the larger the rock the less important and less sensitive the upstream water surface elevation obtained by the model.