Best Conditions of Operating Canal Barrages (Case Study: Seriakos Canal in Egypt)

Abstract

To safely operate canal barrages to control their upstream water level at target values feasible operation scenarios for all range of canal flow rates should be identified. In operating canal barrages focus should be given to many factors the most important of them are the number of gates that could be opened and the depths of opening of those gates. To investigate the possible operating scenarios and identify the feasible and favorable ones, a hydraulic model is developed to simulate the flow under radial gates of canal barrages with relatively low heads. The hydraulic model is based on the energy-momentum approach to simulate flow under free and submerged jumps conditions. For any discharge, all possible operating scenarios are analized and those ones that violate the safe operting criteria (Froude number of jump, location of jump,velocity at exit of stilling basin) are excluded. The hydraulic model was applied to an intermediate barrage across Seriakos irrigation canal in Egypt for three typical flowrates (low, medium, and large). In the three cases all operating scenaroios were investigated and their relevant hydraulic parameters were characterized. The feasible operating scenarios were identified and selected.