Author(s): Maria Castejon Zapata; David Lopez Gomez
Linked Author(s): David López Gómez
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: The Canales dam is an embankment dam with impervious clay core built in 1988 and located in the south of Spain. The objective of this structure is to ensure the water supply to Granada, which is an important city within the Andalucia region located downstream of the dam. Due to the ground settlements, Canales Dam was built in two different phases. In the first phase, a middle outlet at an elevation of 900 m. a. s. l was required to drain the income flow, acting as the interim spillway, and hence ensuring the safety of the constructed dam. In the second phase, the dam crest reached the 966.76 m. a. s. l and hence a spillway adjacent to the dam at 958.42 m. a. s. l was built. Therefore, the middle outlet was no longer required at that time. Nowadays, the Guadalquivir Water Administration regulates water flows only with the bottom outlet. However, due to the increase of flash flood events and the snow melting of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range, Guadalquivir Water Administration would like to utilize the middle outlet as a second structure to regulate water flows in order to ensure the safety of the Granada city. The mentioned outlet has not been opened since the construction of the Canales Dam phase 2. It has four Bureau gates at the upstream mouth of the tunnel, that has not been operated since that time. Therefore, the hydraulic behaviour of the middle outlet once the gates are open and the water level of the reservoir is at a normal operation level is unknown. Studies to assess the safety of the tunnel if the gates get opened are required. The objective of this paper is to show the analysis carried out with numerical methods to analyse the main problems with the existing middle outlet design and to study the different solutions in order to solve those problems. The next phase of the project will be focused on the physical methods to check the hydraulic behaviour of the proposed solution.
Year: 2024