Distinctive Features of Design and Construction of Stilling Basin of Tehri Chute

Spillway

Big dams are liable to more complex problems related to both their design and
construction. Likewise, the
design of Tehri dam and spillways involve very special features in
their design and construction. Stilling Basin of Tehri Chute Spillway
involves energy dissipation of almost 200m water head. This paper
details the distinctive features of design as well as the construction
of Stilling Basin of Chute Spillway. The paper discusses the hydraulic
design indicating the various alternatives studied and firming up of
the final alternative. The structural design is also discussed indicating
the loads considered and the design scheme adopted as per the
requirement. Finally, construction methodology adopted to carry out
the concreting in the most critical initial portion of Stilling Basin is
briefly explained.
1. Introduction
Himalayan rivers are perennial in nature. The river flow during most of the year is very
nominal and about 80% of total yearly flow pass during about 2-3 months of monsoon
period. Storage dams are the most required structures to exploit the huge hydro-
potential of such rivers. A big dam having large storage capacity can store the water of
monsoon period which otherwise not only goes waste but creates havoc in the d/s in the
form of floods, causing huge loss to mankind and the nation. Therefore, in every river
valley, one big dam is essential to harness the hydro potential of that river in the most
effective manner. At the same time, as the height of dam increase its hydraulic and
structural design becomes more and more complex. The design criteria for dam
structure also becomes more stringent. A high dam having large storage capacity has to
have spillways having appropriate spillway capacity so to pass the extra water d/s of
dam after most of the flood peak is normalized in the reservoir. The safety of a dam,
therefore, not only depends on the structural design of dam structure itself but also
depends on the judiciously chosen capacity of spillway so that at the time of highest
estimated flood, the dam structure remains safe and at the same time, we are able to
utilize the total yearly flow to the maximum. Thus, a judgment of most probable flood is
made and accordingly a suitable spillway structure is designed for every high dam. The
next problem to be tackled after planning a spillway is to provide a suitable energy
dissipation arrangement. In a spillway, water is taken from the maximum water level to
the tail water level in such a fashion that all the water head is dissipated safely, keeping
the damages to the minimum within the acceptable limits. The provision of adequate
spillway scheme including, effective energy dissipation arrangement keeping the safety
of structure in mind gains special attention in high dams like Tehri.

1.1. Salient Features of Tehri Power Project
Tehri Hydro Power Complex involves construction of a 260.5m high earth and rock-fill
dam across the river Bhagirathi. The river Bhagirathi originates from Gaumukh glacier in
the Great Himalayas and meets another major tributary Alaknanda at Deoprayag to
form river Ganga. The project site is situated about 1.5 km d/s of Tehri town which is
about 100 km from Haridwar, the famous holy city of Uttarakhand. The project which
shall be constructed in two stages would have a total installed capacity of 2400 MW.
The project involves construction of

A 260.5 m high earth and rock-fill dam across river Bhagirathi;
Spillway structures involving a chute spillway, four shaft spillways and an intermediate
level outlet;
An underground power house of 1000 MW (4 x 250 MW) capacity in Stage-I.
The general layout of the project is as shown in Fig 1.



Fig-1 : General Layout of Project

Another underground power house of 1000 MW shall be constructed in Stage-II (having
reversible turbines). Moreover, Stage-II also involves construction of a 100 m high
concrete dam with surface power house of 400 MW at Koteshwar, 22 km d/s of Tehri
dam site.


1.2. Hydrology

The total catchment area of Tehri dam is 7511 sq. km out of which 2323 sq. km. is snow
bound. More than 80% of annual precipitation occurs during the monsoon period
carrying occasional floods. The river discharge at dam site varies from 30 to 3000
cumecs, the minimum being in January and maximum in Sept/Oct. The Probable Max.
Flood (PMF) for Tehri has been worked out as 15,40 cumecs.

1.3. The Spillway Arrangement
Tehri dam spillway have been designed for a PMF of 15540cumecs. The routed flood
discharge corresponding to max. water level through the spillways would be of the order
of 13040cumecs. It would involve a drop of 220 m which would require suitable
arrangements for energy dissipation. Following spillways structures are provided for
discharging surplus water of reservoir to ensure safety and flexibility in operation.
(i) Gated chute spillway on right bank having discharging capacity of 5500 cumecs.
(ii) Two un-gated shaft spillways connected to both right bank diversion tunnels T-3 & T-
4 having max. discharging capacity of 3850 cumecs.
(iii) Two gated shaft spillways connected to both left bank
diversion tunnels T-1 & T-2 having max. discharging capacity of 3690 cumecs

W A T E R A N D E N E R G Y I N T E R N A T I O N A L
by 4m thick piers. The section and plan of Chute Spillway is shown in Fig. 2. The control
Structure having crest at El 815m (20m below maximum water level) has been
connected with Stilling Basin at El 596 m through a chute sloped at 1.9:1. Possibility of
cavitation phenomenon occurring at the chute surface has been addressed by
introducing aerators
at suitable interval which induces air-cushion to the speeding flow. The maximum
velocity of flow at the end of sloping glacis is of the order of 55 m/s. To dissipate the
huge energy of water having about 220 m high fall, a suitable Stilling Basin has been
provided at the end of sloping glacis. A ski-jump in the form of a step of 3.5 m height
has been provided at junction of chute and Stilling Basin so that high velocity flow jet
may not strike Stilling Basin floor directly. The Stilling Basin is 140m long and 50 m
wide. At the end of Stilling Basin a baffle wall of 22 m height has been provided in order
to create a dead water pool of 22m depth.

1.4. Distinctive Features of Chute Spillway

The Chute Spillway, located on right bank, consists of 3 bays each of 10.5 m width
separated. by 4m thick piers. The section and plan of Chute Spillway is shown in Fig. 2.
The control Structure having crest at El 815m (20m below maximum water level) has
been connected with Stilling Basin at El 596 m through a chute sloped at 1.9:1.
Possibility of cavitation phenomenon occurring at the chute surface has been addressed
by introducing aerators at suitable interval which induces air-cushion to the speeding
flow. The maximum velocity of flow at the end of sloping glacis is of the order of 55 m/s.
To dissipate the huge energy of water having about 220 m high fall, a suitable Stilling
Basin has been provided at the end of sloping glacis. A ski-jump in the form of a step of
3.5 m height has been provided at junction of chute and Stilling Basin so that high
velocity flow jet may not strike Stilling Basin floor directly. The Stilling Basin is 140m
long and 50 m wide. At the end of Stilling Basin a baffle wall of 22 m height has been
provided in order to create a dead water pool of 22m depth.


1.5. Evolution of Design of Stilling Basin

6.1 Hydraulic Design
The present scheme of Stilling Basin has been adopted after carrying out exhaustive
model studies at Hydro-project Institute, Moscow and Irrigation Research Institute,
Roorkee. A model at a scale of 1:60 was prepared to evolve an optimum energy
dissipation arrangement for the Chute Spillway. The biggest challenge before the
investigators was to optimize the dimensions and design of stilling basin. Various
alternatives of Stilling Basin were studied which included:

(i) 130 m long Stilling Basin with floor at El. 590.0 m and 3 m high ski-jump lip. Following
spillways structures are provided for discharging surplus water of reservoir to ensure
safety and flexibility in operation.

(i) Gated chute spillway on right bank having discharging capacity of 5500 cumecs.

(ii) Two un-gated shaft spillways connected to both right bank diversion tunnels T-3 & T-
4 having max. discharging capacity of 3850 cumecs.

(iii) Two gated shaft spillways connected to both left bank diversion tunnels T-1 & T-2
having max. discharging capacity of 3690 cumecs.




Fig. 2 : Details of chute spillway

1.6. Structural Design
Since the main dynamic forces act vertically while dissipating the energy, a particular
emphasis was placed on structural safety of the basin floor. It was observed that the
highest vertical hydro dynamic forces occur in the u/s 1/3 rd portion of basin length,
which get reduced as we move d/s. The study was carried out with stilling basin
consisting of 6 m x 6 m x 6 m blocks spread over the area of 140 x 50 m. It was
observed that for this adopted alternative, max. extracting load occurred on third row
slab and were of the order of 44 t/sq m. As far as the structural design of Stilling Basin
floor is concerned, initially, it was considered to hold the slab panels to rock through
anchors for the extracting load occurring in that panel. The extracting load in the upper
3
rd
portion were observed to be high for which the anchors were worked out to be very
deep (of the order of 30 m). Further due to the fact that a major shear existed in the u/s
part of Stilling Basin near the junction, it was decided to provide u/s portion of Stilling
Basin as thick slab monolithic with the walls. Accordingly, it was worked out to provide
12m thick monolithic concrete floor in first 60 m length to withstand the huge hydro
dynamic forces occurring when the chute spillway operates at maximum discharge.
Since the pressure pulsations are high in u/s, getting reduced towards d/s, the specific
dynamic load decreases in the 60 m length as it is the average of the pressures over 60
m length. The values of holding and pulling force as well as holding and overturning
moments with respect to d/s edge of sections were calculated and accordingly length &
thickness of monolithic slab was worked out. The rest of the portion of Stilling Basin
floor, where the extracting force remained less than 20t/m sq., is designed as slab
panels with anchors having depth varying from 22m to 15m. The details of the Stilling
Basin are as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.













8. Construction of Stilling Basin

Construction of Stilling Basin of Tehri Chute Spillway consists of monolithic construction
of 60 m length called Reach-A and slab panels attached to rock with high tension cable
anchors in rest of the portion named Reach-B. The monolithic portion of Stilling Basin
which is 12 m thick involves placement of huge quantities of concrete of the order of 1.0
lacs cubic metres and thus carries all complications associated with mass concrete
placement. This aspect of placement of mass concrete in this part of the stilling basin
assumes greater significance due to the fact that any cracking of concrete here might
lead to large progressive damages due to very high velocity. The requirement for
placement of concrete were therefore, very carefully analyzed at Tehri.

9. Mass Concrete Placement

Hydration of cement, the chemical process which gives concrete its strength, is
exothermic in nature. Most structural concrete sections are thin enough so as to allow
dissipation of heat by transfer to the surrounding air. But mass concrete involves
problem related to heat getting locked up and thus leading to thermal cracking.
Concrete placement is termed as mass concrete when the structures consist entirely of
sections more than about 3m, since normally 3 m thick, section cools to the air. As the
sections increase in size, more special measures are required otherwise cracks appear
in the concrete. The problem of cracking associated with heat generation is two fold:
W A T E R A N D E N ER G Y I N T E R N A T I O N A L
T E R N A T I O N A L

(i) Due to difference in temperature between interior of mass and the surface leading to
thermal cracking.

(ii) Due to decrease in size which accompanies the cooling as concrete cools to its final
stable temperature, if the mass is restrained against movement by adjacent concrete or
foundation. To tackle both these problems, the need is to control the temperature of
concrete during placement and hydration.

10. Temperature Rise in Mass Concrete

The thermal properties of concrete such as adiabatic temperature rise, diffusivity and
coefficient of thermal expansion are required for computation of maximum temperature
rise inside the concrete. The maximum temperature rise inside the concrete is a
measure of the tensile stresses likely to be developed inside the dam due to thermal
gradients. Several structural damages are reported due to the excessive thermal
stresses developed within the concrete body and thus, designer should have the
assessment of maximum temperature rise in concrete so as to plan the methodology of
concrete placement and also the requirement of pre-cooling. The values of adiabatic
temperature rise (Tr) for any period t can be estimated with the help of following
expression Tr = To (1 - e -mt) where To ultimate adiabatic temperature rise (C) m
constant which gives rate of rise of temperature per hour. t time in hrs. Values of
To and m depend upon the mix composition and can be accurately computed from lab
studies. However, these values can be assumed reasonably for the purpose of
computation of adiabatic temperature rise at any point t. In case of Tehri, where the
cement content in the concrete is of the order of 300 kg, super plasticiser as 1.1% and
w/c ratio is around 0.45, values of To and m can be taken as 14 degree C and 0.028 C
/ hour respectively. Substituting these values in the above equation, Tr = 14 ( 1 - e -
0.028 t ) With the help of above relation, a curve has been plotted between Tr and t
which is given as Fig. 5.




11. Temperature Control in Mass Concrete
The purpose of temperature control of concrete is to prevent the concrete from
undergoing a drop in temperature greater than it can withstand without cracking. On an
average, concrete can withstand a sudden drop in temperature of about 20 F and a
gradual drop of 40 to 60 F, although properties of concrete differ with age and
constituent materials. It is the gradual drop with which temperature control is concerned.
The concrete reaches a final stable temperature approximately equal to the mean
annual air temperature of its environment. The temperature which can be controlled is
the peak temperature that reaches during the period of rapid cement hydration.
Therefore, the objective is to control As Placed temperature of concrete in such a way
that net temperature rise resulting from hydration of cement and exposure R A N D E N
E R N A T I O N A L
to atmosphere will not produce a peak temperature which exceeds final stable
temperature by more than allowable temperature drop. The solution is to restrict the
maximum temperature attained by the concrete. This can be achieved by following any
one or all of the following measures:
(i) Mix proportions and maximum aggregate size.
(ii) Selection of cement or other cementitious materials.
(iii) Pre-cooling of concrete.
(iv) Control of lift thickness and
time interval between lifts.
(v) Post cooling.
(i) Mix proportion plays a major role in amount of heat generation in concrete. Larger the
quantity of cement, more is heat generated. Quantity of cement in any concrete can be
reduced by using larger sized aggregates using entrained air to improve workability and
a stiff but workable concrete. In the monolithic portion of stilling basin of Tehri chute
spillway, M-20 grade concrete has been used with 288 kg/cum of cement having W/C
ratio of 0.45. The concrete has been used with 288 kg/ m3 of cement having W/C ratio
of 0.45. The max. aggregate size used is 40 mm. Thus, efforts are made to reduce the
quantity of cement to the lowest so as to minimize the heat generated. (ii) The heat of
hydration generated in mass concrete can also be reduced by lowering the initial
placement temperature of concrete. The initial temperature of concrete can be lowered
by cooling the coarse aggregates or water or both. At Tehri, water having temperature
about 5-7 degree lower than atmospheric temperature is used which has helped a lot in
lowering down the initial temperature of concrete. Also this water was sprinkled over all
the fraction of aggregates before mixing which reduced initial temperature of concrete
considerably.

(iii) After placement of concrete, the principal means for reducing the peak temperature
is the flow of heat from concrete through the top surface to the atmosphere. Therefore,
a thin lift is desirable as far as possible. The temperature rise at the bottom of the lift is
essentially adiabatic for the first 2 days and the maximum temperature is reached in 3
days after which slow cooling begins. When pre-cooled concrete is not used, there
should be adequate time interval between placement of successive lifts in order to
permit losing an adequate amount of heat to the atmosphere. The common requirement
is 5 days. This allows for 2 days cooling after the maximum temperature has reached.
The concrete may not cool rapidly thereby inducing cracks. Therefore, very long
exposures should also be avoided. It should be covered within 10 days, if possible. In
case of a precooled concrete, thick concrete lifts can be used due to the rate of heat
inflow from the top surface. But this is not true in case of un-cooled concrete or rather it
is disadvantageous in the concrete where pre-cooling is not done.

W A T E R A N D E N E R G Y I N T E R N A T I O N A L
In case of Tehri, first consideration was to have thin concrete lifts due to the fact that no
pre-cooling was proposed. The top surface area of the concrete was also approx 8000
sq. m. and therefore it was considered that rate of heat dissipation through the top
would be quite high. Therefore, any thickness of concrete lift between 50 cm - 80 cm
was considered to be appropriate. Second consideration for fixing up the thickness of
concrete lift was the expected time interval between the successive lifts. The time
interval usually is determined by the capacity of the mixing plant in relation to the
quantity in one monolithic block in which the concrete is to be placed. In order to place
one lift of 80cm thickness in the monolithic concrete block of size 80x100m, it would
take around 7 days (assuming continuous placement with the existing resources). For
the un-cooled concrete, it is again disadvantageous to keep the concrete for overly long
exposure and allowing 2 days cooling after attaining the maximum temperature (i.e. 3
days) the excess exposure in the present case was coming to be 2 days. It was
therefore, decided to fix the thickness of the concrete lift in such a way that the concrete
layer gets covered with another layer at a particular point in not later than 5 days.
Working backwards, a lift thickness of 60 cms was finalized keeping in view of the
considerations deliberated above. Actual placement of concrete in the largest monolithic
block of size 80 m x 100 m, confirmed the assumptions made while planning the
concrete lifts. The rate of rise in temperature at a particular point and the effect of
successive
layer on the rise of temperature is depicted in Fig. 6 based on the observations
gathered from the instruments installed in the concrete.


12. AbrasionErosion of Stilling Basin Concrete Surface
The problem arising out of high velocity flow is erosion due to abrasion and also locked
air shock pressures. It had been, therefore, considered to providehigh performance
concrete to take care of the aforesaid problems. The use of high grade (M-60) concrete
has been specified for the top and side layers in stilling basin with due consideration of
the requirements of durability and abrasion resistance. Macro silica as ingredient has
been added to the concrete mix in a dose of 8.5% by weight of cement





Fig. 6 : Variation of temperature rise w.r.t. time
W A T E R A N D E N E R G Y I N T E R N A T I O N A L
.
13. Performance of Mass Concrete in Stilling Basin
Thermometers have been installed in the concrete in monolithic portion of the stilling
basin at various levels in order to monitor the thermal behaviour of the concrete during
hydration. The observations recorded from these instruments have been given in Table
1.The performance of the concrete in stilling basin can be adequately adjudged from
these observations.
14. Conclusion

It has been a great challenge for providing a suitable energy dissipation arrangement for
a spillway operating under a high head. For Tehri Chute Spillway, this has been very
rigorously studied on a hydraulic model, and its structural design has been carried out
depending on the requirements of the loads occurring as well as the geology prevailing
there at the site. Further, in the mass concreting activity in a part of stilling basin, the
study related to rise in temperature and the actual rise observed confirmed the various
aspects considered in concrete placement like the mix design, lift thickness and time
interval etc as optimum.

Table 1 : Reading of temperature gauges in stilling basin

D E N E R G Y I N T E R N A T I O N A L