Large scale experimental study of piano key weirs

Piano Key Weirs (PKW) are a new type of weir, showing very good flood release capacities as well as strong economic and structural benefits. However, lacks of understanding persist about the flow conditions on such structures. With the goal to fill some of these lacks, a combined experimental and numerical study has been undertaken at the Laboratory of Structures Hydraulics of the University of Liege.
This paper presents the goals and the scientific strategy of this research. The first results of experiments being carried out on a large physical model of PKW are also depicted. These experiments lead to characterization of the flow behavior for low heads and enable to highlight the influence of the crest thickness and the outlet slope on the release capacity.