Effects of ramp slope and discharge on hydraulic performance of submerged hump weirs

Hump weirs are amongst conventional hydraulic structures for water level control and discharge measurement. The slope in the upstream and downstream ramps is a design parameter that affects the performance of Hump weirs in both free and submerged flow conditions. A series of numerical simulations was performed to investigate the effects of ramp slope and discharge on discharge characteristics and water level variations of submerged Hump weirs. Five ramp slopes ranging from 1V:1H to 1V:5H were tested at different upstream discharges. The numerical results were compared with the laboratory data for verifications of the numerical model. The simulation discrepancies in prediction of water surface level and discharge coefficient were within +/- 10 % and +/- 5 % of the full range, respectively. The effects of ramp slope on variations of modular limit and discharge reduction factor were studied. It was found that the modular limit occurred at relatively higher submergence ratios as the ramp slope in Hump weirs increased. The onset of submergence was modeled by carefully increasing tailwater level with small increments and the results were compared with the classic definition of modular limit. It was found that the modular limit increases with increasing the ramp slope and discharge while the classic definition of modular limit indicated that the modular limit is independent of the discharge. The velocity and vortex fields in the downstream of Hump weirs indicated the formation vortex structure, which is controlled by the ramp slope. The energy losses were calculated from the numerical outputs, and it was found that the normalized energy losses decreased linearly with submergence.