Abstract: Dam-break accidents occur at times at hydropower stations; dam-break waves often impose a significant impact on the downstream structures. In this work, physical model tests are carried out on a flume to record the mechanical characterization of a slope-deck structure, located at the end of the flume that is impacted by the dam-break waves created by a dam-break wave generating system (DWGS). We focus on analysis of the load history and distribution characteristics of uplift pressure on the structure during wave impacting. In time variation, the impact pressure shows five successive stages; the two stages of wave front impact pressure and quasi-constant pressure are examined in this paper. In spatial distribution, these two pressures decrease along the stream from the head to tail of the deck section, while they change little in the cross-flow direction. Based on the test data, a formula for calculating the platform uplift pressure distribution is fitted, and streamwise variations in the peak values of wavefront impact pressure and quasi-constant pressure are obtained.

Key words: dam-break wave, slope-deck structure, uplift pressures, temporal and spatial distributions