Experimental Simulation of Interaction Between Weir – Gate Hydraulic Structure and Dikes

Several experimental runs have been conducted in a rectangular flume in order to investigate the effect of composite hydraulic structures and emerged dikes on flow hydraulic characteristics. The composite hydraulic structures used in this study are composed of a rectangular weir and gate with a different dimensional model. The dikes' structure is simulated by wood sheets of 10 cm height with two lengths, 1.0 and 1.5 cm. Three dike arrangements have been adopted in this study and installed downstream of the composite hydraulic structure. These arrangements consist of one side, both sides, and zigzag arrangement. Each dike arrangement has three cases with different dike numbers and spacing values. All the experiments have satisfied the submerged flow condition. The investigation of the flow cross-sectional area that passes the gate and weir of the composite structure and the dike arrangements, numbers, and lengths have been observed to find their effects on downstream average water depth, actual discharge, discharge coefficient of the composite structure, upstream and downstream Froude numbers, and downstream Reynolds number. The main finding in this study is that the existence of dikes downstream of the composite structure causes an increase in the downstream water depth without any conflict or fluctuation in the workability of the composite hydraulic structure. This study shows reasonable and noticeable results for Froude number, flow velocity, head losses, and water surface profile with distance in the downstream region. The experimental work is supported by adopting the statistical test to inspect the suitability and the acceptability of the average downstream water depth. It is strongly stated that all the observed data follow the normal distribution.