Australia and New Zealand are experiencing more frequent and intense flood events, pushing existing spillway structures beyond their original design assumptions. Traditional hydraulic modelling tools are no longer sufficient to assess today’s high-velocity, highly aerated, and rapidly changing PMF (Probable Maximum Flood) conditions.
This session explores how STAR-CCM+ enables engineers to simulate complex multiphase spillway hydraulics with advanced physics such as VOF modelling, adaptive mesh refinement, and hybrid RANS-LES turbulence. Early digital simulation helps identify failure risks, improve safety margins, and guide better design decisions for spillway upgrades and new dam infrastructure.[/vc_column][/vc_row] Dam owners, designers, and regulators must evaluate spillway behaviour under PMF-scale events, ensuring structures can safely pass extreme flows without cavitation, structural damage, or performance loss. This requires early insight into key hydraulic parameters, including:

• High-velocity PMF flow behaviour across spillway chutes and control structures
• Jet breakup, nappe oscillation, air entrainment, and their impact on flow stability
• Cavitation formation zones, aeration needs, and surface pressure fluctuations
• Flip-bucket jet trajectories and plunge pool loading on downstream structures
• Overall discharge efficiency and capacity limits under extreme scenarios

[/vc_column][/vc_row]

• Build a multiphysics digital model to analyse spillway hydraulics with high accuracy
• Explore 100+ design variations automatically and identify the safest, most efficient layout
• Increase spillway capacity while reducing cavitation and concrete volume
• Evaluate jet impact forces, energy dissipation, and structural loading under PMF
• Improve safety, compliance, and performance with early simulation-led design insights

[/vc_column][/vc_row]