Determination of Ilisu dam outlet performance by numerical model

Ilisu Dam and Hydroelectric Power Plant are among the most important projects of our country. Once completed, it is expected that it will contribute to the country economy approximately $300 million annually. One of the most remarkable engineering designs of the dam is the conversion of the diversion tunnels of 12 m in diameter and about 1 km in length into sluice outlet structure. In this thesis, alternative designs of Ilisu Dam sluice outlet were discussed to assess and evaluate hydrodynamic behaviors under different flow and design conditions using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). First, the data obtained were compared with the model experiments conducted by the State Water Works (SWW), and then analyzes that cannot be obtained in the physical experiments were conducted using CFD. As a method, Flow 3D software with turbulent and two-phase flow model was used to analyses of the models. The fist results conducted by the HAD analyses are considerably agree with the data of experimental results of the DSI. Then it was concluded that the new developed designs of the aerator has given 50% and 100% more efficiency than the original design of DSI.