Global Journal of Environmental Research 2 (3): 122-125, 2008

ISSN 1990-925X
© IDOSI Publications, 2008

Hydraulic and Environmental Aspects of Long Crested Weirs

1
A.D. Ghare, 2P.J. Wadhai, 3N.J. Mistry and 4P.D. Porey

1
Civil Engineering Department, V N I T, Nagpur, India
2
Civil Engineering Department, GHRCE, Nagpur, India
3
Civil Engineering Department, S V N I T, Surat, India
4
S V N I T, Surat, India

Abstract: Long crested weirs are gaining popularity amongst the hydraulic engineers owing to obvious
hydraulic advantage of flow magnification. These weirs can pass much higher floods from the available width
of a natural water course. Such weirs may also be introduced in water treatment plants for mixing of chemicals.
This paper discusses the advantages of long crested weirs, such as duckbill and labyrinth weirs. An account
of hydraulic as well as environmental aspects such as discharge relationship, weir aeration, thermal
stratification, fish migration, vegetation response and downstream scouring associated with long crested weirs
has been presented herein.

Key words: Weir Flow Labyrinth Scouring

INTRODUCTION
Weir is deliberate obstruction constructed in a
watercourse. Provision of weir increases water surface
level upstream, for some flow conditions. Typically
all the weirs are characterized by a drop in water
level in the water course from elevated upstream
level to natural downstream level. This drop may tend to
disappear during high flood conditions. In engineering
terms a weir must be able to satisfy the fundamental
requirements viz. Hydraulic performance, Structural
stability and Environmental impact & safety aspects.
Weirs are normally provided for any one or more
of the following fundamental functions: Water Level
Management, Flow Measurement, Environmental
Enhancement and Channel Stabilization
The purpose of long crested weir is to provide more
weir crest length than the one which is possible with a
conventional weir whose crest is kept perpendicular to the
flow in the watercourse. This facilitates the passage of
design flow with smaller head. This means that large
variations in flow rate over the long crested weir results in
smaller changes in head and small changes in flow into
the lateral or farm turnouts upstream of weir. Large crested
weirs are used to control the water surface elevation only
and not for flow measurement. The long crested weirs
include diagonal weir, duckbill weir, corrugated weir and
labyrinth weir. Fig. 1 shows plan forms of all these weirs.
The water level management by weirs encompasses
many functions. The impoundment of water is the basic
function. The crest level of the long crested can be raised
for augmentation of water storage, at the same time
maintaining the overflowing capacity. The increased water
levels provide sufficient draft for navigation, permit
diversion or withdrawal of water and also sometimes to
provide a source for power. This also enables the
maintaining of ground water levels. Typically long crested
weirs allow the increase in water depths for navigation or
other purposes without overtopping the banks and by
maintaining the head room under the bridges.

Flow Flow

Diagonal Duckbill Labyrinth

Fig. 1: Various plan-forms of long crested weirs

Corresponding Author: Dr. A.D. Ghare, Department of Civil Engineering. V N I T, Nagpur, India
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 Global J. Environ. Res., 2 (3): 122-125, 2008
Hydraulic Aspects: The discharge over a long crested
weir can be calculated by
3
(1)
Q = CL e H 2
where C is the coefficient for the type of weir crest,
Le is the effective weir crest length and H is the total head
over the weir crest. The effective crest length of weir is
defined by
L e= L − 0.2H (2)
Obtaining correct crest coefficient C is difficult as
this coefficient changes with head on the weir. Generally,
for a well aerated sharp crested weir C is about 1.85. For a
diagonal or duckbill weir this value is in the range of 1.4 to
1.5. For a labyrinth weir, this coefficient depends on (H/P)
ratio and also the labyrinth angle [1]. P denotes the
height of weir. For all the long crested weirs the capacity
of flow magnification diminishes and it approaches to the
capacity of a perpendicular linear weir as (H/P) increases
and exceeds over 0.8 or so.
Environmental Aspects: Water is perhaps the most
dominant constituent of the environment as it
supports life on the globe. The action plan
envisaged in National Environmental Policy [2]
includes the following:
Promote integrated approaches to management of
river basins by the concerned river authorities,
considering upstream and downstream inflows and
withdrawals by season, pollution loads and natural
recreational capacities, to ensure maintenance of
adequate flows and adherence to water quality
standards throughout their course in all seasons.
Consider and mitigate the adverse impacts on river
flora and fauna and the resulting changes in the
resource base for livelihoods, of multipurpose river
valley projects, power plants and industries.
Consider mandating the installation of water saving
closets and taps in the building byelaws of urban
centres.
Set up a legally enforceable regulatory mechanism
for identified valuable wetlands to prevent their
degradation and enhance their conservation.
Develop a national inventory of such wetlands.
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Water Stress Indicators (WSI) as found in literature
are as follows:
As per Alcamo et al. [3]
WSI = Withdrawal / Mean Annual Runoff (MAR) (3)
Smakhtin et al. [4] modified this indicator by
accounting water use for maintaining ecology and
environment as
WSI = Withdrawal/(MAR-Environmental water
requirement for aquatic Eco system) (4)
For examining environmental issues, it is necessary
to consider both short term impacts which are likely to be
encountered during the progress of the works and in near
future, as well as the longer term impacts that would
feature in the distant future. Because of raising of water
levels, weirs offer the opportunity of creation of wetland
and conservation habitat as well as enhance rivers and
their surrounding areas. The provision of weir negates the
possibility of the river drying out also it increases the
aeration of river water as it cascades over the weir crest.
The aeration is even more in case of labyrinth weir as
compared to a linear weir. This can lead to a rich and
diverse environment for both aquatic and terrestrial
species. Thus weirs have a significant impact on the
amenity value of rivers, creating opportunities for
enhanced use of water. However, at the same time, the
fact that the weir creates a barrier in the river can be
detrimental to nature conservation. This barrier prevents
the migration of fish upstream and downstream, thus
limiting their access to suitable spawning sites as well
as reducing the overall biological value of fishery.
Hence it is important that all the possible environmental
impacts are considered before a decision on weir
provision is taken.
Weir Aeration: DO is generally used as an indicator of
the quality of water used by humans or serving as a
habitat for aquatic flora and fauna. Respiration by
aquatic life serves to reduce DO. Weir aeration occurs in
watercourses and in water treatment plants. Labyrinth
notches can be introduced for increased turbulence for
mixing the chemicals and also to aerate the water. Higher
the head higher will be the aeration and longer crested
weirs offer this advantage. When free nappe plunges into
downstream tail water, air entrainment and turbulence
 Global J. Environ. Res., 2 (3): 122-125, 2008
contribute to oxygen exchange. Baylar et al. [5] concluded
that weir shape was the important factor influencing the
aeration efficiency and contended that the weir geometry
defines nappe shapes that are unique to each weir and
the oxygen transfer seems to strongly depend on the
nappe shapes.
For low flows associated with aeration the preferred
design is a labyrinth weir, which increases the river’s DO
content by creating a number of waterfalls. As water flows
over the weir, it splashes into the plunge pool below,
creating number of small bubbles and high turbulence.
Systematic experimental study on triangular planform
labyrinth weir was carried out to measure the air
entrainment rate by Emiroglu et al. [6]. For horizontal sills,
following correlation equation was proposed
cos
=Q A 0.0033q 0.166 ⋅ h1.9551.193 2
(5)
where
QA = air entrainment rate in cumecs
q = unit discharge in m2/s
h = drop height in meters
è = weir included angle
It was also observed that the values of air
entrainment rate of the linear weir and the weirs with
horizontal sills were generally lower than the other type
of weirs.
Thermal Stratification: During hot weather, deep
reservoir water stratifies i.e. separates into two layers.
One warm surface that is relatively rich in DO and another
relatively cold bottom layer. The oxygen in the lower layer
is gradually consumed by organic material which is
brought to the reservoir when it rains or is discharged
from sewage treatment plants, industries or any other
source and settles to the bottom and decays. The
stratified layers of water do not mix because of
temperature difference and hence the oxygen in the lower
layer does no get replaced. Towards the end of the
summer, the oxygen supplies near the bottom may be
entirely depleted. Hydro power plants typically draw
water from the deeper levels and create low oxygen
conditions downstream of the dam. This results in
problems for aquatic life which depends on oxygen for
their existence. In order to improve this situation various
measures such as provision of hub baffles on the
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underside of a turbine, providing surface water pumps
which push warm, oxygen rich surface water downward or
introducing oxygen injection systems can be adopted.
However, more cost effective alternative can be providing
long crested aeration weirs at a short distance
downstream from dams.
Fish Migration: Fish migration in water courses may be
restricted if a structure fails to make proper provision for
their passage. The primary factors affecting the passage
of fish through a structure are the flow velocities in and
downstream of the critical section, the available width and
depth of flow at the structure and the drop in water level
over the structure as also the swimming capabilities and
leap height of migratory species. The most common type
of fish ways have been in the form of sloping or stepped
channel partitioned into a number of pools. For the long
crested weir like labyrinth, one of the legs may be in the
form of fish way.
Vegetation Response: The assessment of the
environmental consequences of any flow regime
requires an assessment of the impact of the regime on the
floodplain environment. One of the important aspects of
the floodplain environment is floodplain vegetation which
may provide the habitat for many migratory water-bird
species and other floodplain biota. Perennials are the
plants which are longer-lived ( one to hundreds of years).
Hence perennials have many flowering and seeding
cycles during their lifetime. For perennials, the stage when
seeds germinate and seedlings become well established
(known as regeneration stage) can be relatively long and
last from several months to a few years. The adult stage
( maintenance) is much longer. The influencing variables
for regeneration vegetation stage are seasonality,
duration of inundation and depth of inundation. Similarly,
for maintenance stage the influencing variables are
seasonality, drying time between inundations and
duration of inundation. As the long crested weirs affect
the water levels and in turn the inundation during floods,
the effect is to be ascertained by modeling floodplain
interactions with reference to vegetation response.
Downstream Scouring: For mobile bed rivers, the bed
is constantly subjected to special and temporal
changes which modify the habitat characteristics.
One of the structural measures to maintain or restore
a river’s habitat diversity is provision of weir. It is
 Global J. Environ. Res., 2 (3): 122-125, 2008
established that the extent of scour depends on
characteristics of flow, bed material composition and
geometry of structure. For a linear weir, the maximum
scour depth is expressed as
ds = f(Q, y0, yt, P, b, B, , D) (6)
where
Q = discharge,
y0 = depth of flow over the crest,
yt = tailwater depth,
P = height of sill,
b = width of sill,
B = width of channel
and D= relative density and characteristic sediment of
the bed material, respectively
Laboratory studies on W type labyrinth weir were
carried out by Bhuiyan et al. [7] and a typical scouring
pattern was observed, which indicated the presence of
deeper scour holes on downstream side.
It is a matter of field investigations coupled with
laboratory investigations to arrive at a generalized model
for assessment of scour depth for labyrinth weirs. This
will be of help while designing downstream apron or
energy dissipating system for the weir.
CONCLUSIONS
Long crested weirs such as duckbills and labyrinths
have inherent advantage of flow magnification in the
available water course width. This facilitates the water
level management leading to increased water storage
capacity without impounding the more area for the same
operating level. For design of such weirs, environmental
aspects in addition to the hydraulic aspects have to be
considered. Long crested weirs are found to have higher
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water aeration rate and it can also be used to counter the
effects of thermal stratification of reservoirs when used
for hydropower. Long crested weir geometry also
influences aquatic life, fish migration, vegetation response
in floodplain and downstream scouring. All these aspects
must be accounted for before providing such weirs on
natural water courses.
REFERENCES
1. Tullis, B.P., J.C. Young and M.A. Chandler,
2007. Head-Discharge Relationships for
Submerged Labyrinth Weirs. J. Hydraul. Eng.,
ASCE, 133(3): 248-253.
2. National Environmental Policy Document, 2004.
Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government
of India, New Delhi {www.envfornic.in/nep}
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T. Rosch and S. Siebert, 2002. Water GAP 2: A Model
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Draft paper- 3rd World Water Forum, Kyoto, Japan,
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5. Baylar, A. and T. Bagatur, 2000. Aeration
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6. Emiroglu, M.E. and A. Baylar, 2005. Influence of
Included Angle and Sill slope on Air Entrainment of
Triangular Planform Labyrinth Weirs. J. Hydraul.
Eng., ASCE, 131(3): 184-189.
7. Bhuiyan, F., R.D. Hey and P.R. Wormleaton, 2007.
Hydraulic Evaluation of W-weir for River
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