Effects of hydraulic and geometric parameters on downstream cavity length of discharge tunnel service gate

Aerators on discharge tunnel outlets may be regarded as an effective protection against cavitation erosion. The air entrainment of aerators is governed by a number of independent parameters, including the bottom slope of releasing free-surface flow tunnel downstream of service gate, the end top slope of pressure tunnel, the height of step, and the Froude number at take-off. During eight phases of experiments, the effects of above-mentioned parameters were observed on the cavity length downstream of the fully open operating service gate of a discharge tunnel. The results show that, the bottom slope of releasing free-surface flow tunnel has obvious effect on the cavity length as well as the Froude number at gate take-off. The effect of the step height variations on the cavity length could be considered for higher discharges and steeper tunnel top slope, particularly in higher discharges, resulting in shorter cavity length downstream of service gate.