ABSTRACT
In hydraulic engineering numerous devices like stilling basins, baffled aprons, and vortex shafts are known under the collective term of energy dissipators. Their purpose is to dissipate hydraulic energy, i.e. to convert it mainly into heat. Dissipators are used in places where the excess hydraulic energy could cause such damage as erosion of tailwater channels, abrasion of hydraulic structures, generation of tailwater waves, or scouring. Every moving fluid particle or drop of water loses some of its hydraulic energy along its trajectory. This loss is a result of friction or drag forces that are closely related to turbulence production in hydraulic energy dissipators. Efficient energy dissipation is a matter of disturbing a water current either by increasing its turbulence or by diffusing it into spray. Energy dissipators are used in pressurized flows as well as in open channel flows.
