Stepped spillway is hydraulic structure designed to dissipate the excess in kinetic energy at the downstream of dams and can reduce the size of stilling basin at the toe of the spillway or chute. The flow on a stepped spillway is characterisedby the large aeration that can prevent or reduce the cavitation damage. The air entrainment starts where the boundary layer attains the free surface of flow; this point is called “point of inception”. Within this work the inception point is determined by using software Ansys Fluent where the volume of fluid (VOF) model is used as a tool to track the free surface thereby the turbulence closure is derived in the k – ε turbulence standard model. This research aims to find new formulas for de-scribe the variation of water depth at step edge and the positions of the inception point, at the same time the contour map ofvelocity, turbulent kinetic energy and strain rate are presented. The found numerical results agree well with experimental results like the values of computed and measured water depth at the inception point and the numerical and experimental inception point locations. Also, the dimensionless water depth profile obtained by numerical method agrees well with that of measurement. This study confirmed that the Ansys Fluent is a robust software for simulating air entrainment and explor-ing more characteristics of flow over stepped spillways.

Because of hydraulic jump, the scour downstream a stepped spillway is the most confusing issue that endangers the overall stability of the spillway. In this paper, thirty-six exploratory runs are described to explore the impact of utilizing submerged water jets fixed in the stilling basin of a stepped spillway on the downstream scour measurements under various flow conditions. A smooth apron where the water jets are disabled is incorporated to characterize the impact of adjustments studied. Trials are performed utilizing different upstream discharges, jets arrangements, and tailwater depths. The results are analyzed and graphically presented. The experimental data are contrasted to a scour formulae developed by other specialists. Outcomes indicated that by utilizing submerged floor water jets, the maximum scour depth is decreased between 14.3 and 36.0%. Additionally, the maximum scour length is reduced by 9.7 to 42.3%. Finally, involving regression analysis, simple formulas are developed to estimate different scour parameters.