Hydraulic characteristics of partial opening of the working gate for a discharge tunnel

The partial opening of the working gate for a discharge tunnel is used more and more widely in the various conditions, such as releasing discharge to meet the needs of the various stages under construction, or of the operations at low reservoir levels. In this article the hydraulic characteristics were investigated of the partial opening of the working gate based on the physical model experiments of the discharge tunnel for the Longtan Hydropower Project, including the discharge coefficient, the surface profile of the free flow section, the bottom pressure distribution of the tunnel with an aerator, the cavity length just from the ramp, and the wall pressure of the curve section of the outlet. Some new issues were discussed and the properties were presented of the partial opening of the gate.