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If inflow to the reservoir exceeds the gate's capacity, an artificial channel called an auxiliary or emergency spillway will convey water. Often, that is intentionally blocked by a fuse plug . If present, the fuse plug is designed to wash out in case of a large flood greater than the discharge capacity of the spillway gates.
Spillway channel example at the Colt Crag Reservoir. Open channel spillways are dam spillways that utilize the principles of open-channel flow to convey impounded water in order to prevent dam failure. They can function as principal spillways, emergency spillways, or both.
An emergency spillway with fuse plug (bottom) and an auxiliary ogee spillway (top) at New Waddell Dam. A fuse plug is a collapsible dam installed on spillways in dams to increase the dam's capacity. The principle behind the fuse plug is that the majority of water that overflows a dam's spillway can be safely dammed except in high flood conditions.
2. The emergency spillway, which has a 30 ft (9 m) high concrete wall at the top of a hill, is unused. Despite concerns that the emergency spillway is vulnerable to erosion, a $100 million request by environmentalists to upgrade it to a concrete-lined auxiliary spillway is rejected by the federal regulators. Craters appear in the main spillway.
An "auxiliary spillway" releases flow in excess of the capacity of the service spillway. An "emergency spillway" is designed for extreme conditions, such as a serious malfunction of the service spillway. A "fuse plug spillway" is a low embankment designed to be overtopped and washed away in the event of a large flood. The elements of a fuse ...
A 1,145-acre (463 ha) lake is formed behind the dam with almost 40 miles (64 km) of shoreline. South of the dam is the emergency spillway. The spillway contains six 42-by-38-foot (13 by 12 m) gates used to control high water and prevent the lake from flowing over the top of the dam.
The emergency spillway is located to the northwest of the dam and comprises a concrete overflow weir with a capacity of 200,000 cu ft/s (5,700 m 3 /s). [6]
On the east side of the dam is the service spillway which is controlled by five radial gates and has a maximum discharge capacity of 13,000 m 3 /s (460,000 cu ft/s). Further to the east is a fuse-plug-controlled emergency spillway with a 4,000 m 3 /s (140,000 cu ft/s) capacity. [2]