Aiming at the special requirements of flood drainage and energy dissipation in a tailings pond project in Hunan Province, a localized stepped overflow weir with lateral arrangement was designed. The weir type characteristics of the new weir were analyzed based on theoretical analysis, and its hydraulic characteristics such as flow capacity, flow pattern, velocity and average pressure distribution were studied through physical model tests. The results show that the new type of local stepped overflow weir can meet the requirements of overflow capacity and energy dissipation at the same time, and the diversion pier on the inlet side and the shrinkage arrangement on the weir can adjust the flow structure, and effectively reduce the damage of bad flow patterns such as folding flow and water-wing. The local stepped overflow weir can provide reference for similar engineering layout.