Composite hydraulic modeling to design a complex dam spillway

The paper presents the application of a composite hydraulic modeling approach to the rehabilitation studies of a complex dam spillway. First, a physical scale model of the existing works has been built and operated. It enabled to define very accurately the actual discharge capacity and to validate a numerical model of the system. Second, the numerical model has been used to rapidly test several rehabilitation solutions. Finally, the final design has been validated and optimized using the physical model. The paper shows how composite hydraulic modeling enables to combine the inherent advantages of physical and numerical modeling approaches, which are complementary, while being beneficial to the delay as well as the quality of the analysis.