EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON THE UPSTREAM WATER LEVEL RISE AND DOWNSTREAM SCOUR LENGTH OF A SUBMERGED DAM

Results of a mobile bed flume experiment on submerged dam scour are presented. Expressions are established for the upstream water level rise and downstream scour length caused by the dam, using the Froude numbers at the dam site before and after dam construction as primary variables. The water level rise is related to changes of the Froude number at the dam site, but the scour length is also affected by the size of bed material and depth of flow. A straightforward relationship is obtained which relates the length of scour to several factors including geometry of the dam, bed material size, and flow conditions.