Malter dam

The Challenge

Built between 1908 and 1913, the Malter Dam is a historic masonry gravity dam in the Eastern Ore Mountains (Saxony, Germany), serving flood protection, recreation and hydropower. To restore dam safety against overtopping, it was necessary to add a second spillway and stilling basin to the dam.

The Solution

The core of the upgrade is a novel vertical flow separator as diversion structure that separates flow into the existing spillway chute and activates the new one during high discharges. The design and performance of this system was evaluated using a 1:25-scale physical model.

The Impact

The expanded spillway capacity prevents dam overtopping during extreme floods (up to PMF) and serves as example of adapting water-infrastructure to future climate risks.