Experimental flow characterization in a spiral vortex drop shaft

Abstract

Connecting storm-sewers located at rather different elevations may be made with vortex drop shafts in which the energy dissipation is made by the friction between the vertical shaft and the flow and downstream by the impinging jet in a dissipation chamber. Following the first model design in the 1940s, different types of vortex drop shafts have been developed. One of the most used type is the so-called spiral vortex drop shaft developed to work in supercritical flow with good performance in both energy dissipation and space constrains. In this paper, an experimental flow characterization in a spiral vortex drop shaft is conducted covering the three main components of these structures, namely the inlet channel, the vertical shaft and the dissipation chamber. The results include measurement of water depths, pressure and velocity.