Hydraulic design of stepped spillways for RCC dams

Stepped spillways for discharging excess flood waters have gained significant interest among researchers and dam engineers, both for new dams and for armoring existing embankment dams. Its main advantage was the significant energy dissipation along the chute as a result of the macro-roughness of the steps, and the reduced cavitation risk because of the greatly reduced flow velocities and the large amount of air entrainment. This paper focuses on significant findings of the research program and the development of design guidance to reduce the need for individual physical model studies.