Location
Atlanta, GA
Presentation Type
Presentation
Start Date
10-8-2025 2:20 PM
Description
GEI worked with a Colorado district to design and construct a labyrinth spillway at a high-altitude reservoir west of Denver. The labyrinth spillway increased the reservoir normal water surface elevation 10 feet, increasing reservoir storage capacity by 120 acre-feet. This additional storage was achieved with the labyrinth with minimal modification to the existing embankment dam. The site presented challenges including significant ice loading on the weir structure, complex rock conditions requiring seepage control measures, and unique construction techniques.
A labyrinth weir configuration was chosen to increase discharge capacity with minimal adjustment to the existing spillway footprint and to pass the Inflow Design Flood with the higher water surface. Empirical design methods were used to develop the labyrinth weir geometry. The spillway has 3 cycles and is 92 feet wide and 111 feet long. This paper presents a comparison of the recent computational fluid dynamics modeling and the spreadsheet-based results.
Included in
High Altitude Labyrinth Design and Construction
Atlanta, GA
GEI worked with a Colorado district to design and construct a labyrinth spillway at a high-altitude reservoir west of Denver. The labyrinth spillway increased the reservoir normal water surface elevation 10 feet, increasing reservoir storage capacity by 120 acre-feet. This additional storage was achieved with the labyrinth with minimal modification to the existing embankment dam. The site presented challenges including significant ice loading on the weir structure, complex rock conditions requiring seepage control measures, and unique construction techniques.
A labyrinth weir configuration was chosen to increase discharge capacity with minimal adjustment to the existing spillway footprint and to pass the Inflow Design Flood with the higher water surface. Empirical design methods were used to develop the labyrinth weir geometry. The spillway has 3 cycles and is 92 feet wide and 111 feet long. This paper presents a comparison of the recent computational fluid dynamics modeling and the spreadsheet-based results.