New Developments in Hydroelectric Power-Plant Design

The most logical and simplest way to maintain the full capacity of a hydraulic power plant during flood periods is to remove the high tail water from the discharge opening. This may be most successfully accomplished by a backwater suppressor utilizing the waste water and the present paper is chiefly devoted to the development and application of this method.

Two testing models are described and the results presented, while the design of the draft-tube orifice is discussed at considerable length. Finally the plant of the Alabama Power Company at Mitchell Dam on the Coosa River in Alabama, where the Thurlow type of backwater suppressor was first conceived and applied, is described, details of its construction and equipment being included.