FLOW MEASUREMENTS

Dr. C.R.SURIBABU
PROFESSOR
SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
SASTRA UNIVERSITY
THANAJAVUR
 Flow measurement
 Flow measurement is the quantification of bulk fluid
movement. Flow can be measured in a variety of ways. Positive-
displacement flow meters accumulate a fixed volume of fluid and
then count the number of times the volume is filled to measure
flow. Other flow measurement methods rely on forces produced
by the flowing stream as it overcomes a known constriction, to
indirectly calculate flow. Flow may be measured by measuring the
velocity of fluid over a known area.
 Benefits of Better Water Measurement
 Proper billing for water usage
 Accurate accounting and good records help allocate equitable
shares of water between competitive uses both on and off the
farm.
 Good water measurement practices facilitate accurate and
equitable distribution of water within district or farm, resulting in
fewer problems and easier operation.
 Accurate water measurement provides the on-farm irrigation
decision-maker with the information needed to achieve the best
use of the irrigation water applied while typically minimizing
negative environmental impacts.
 Installing canal flow measuring structures reduces the need for
time-consuming current metering.
 Instituting accurate and convenient water measurement methods
improves the evaluation of seepage losses in unlined channels. Thus,
better determinations of the cost benefits of proposed canal and ditch
improvements are possible.
 Permanent water measurement devices can also form the basis for
future improvements, such as remote flow monitoring and canal
operation automation.
 Good water measurement and management practice prevents excess
runoff and deep percolation, which can damage crops, pollute ground
water with chemicals and pesticides, and result in project farm
drainage flows containing contaminants.
 Accounting for individual water use combined with pricing policies
that penalize excessive use.
 Requirement of ideal measuring device
 Be inexpensive to construct
 Be simple to operate
 Require little maintenance
 Be free from working parts
 Be accurate in its measurement
 Be free from sand, silt or floating trash troubles
and
 Require but little loss of head in the ditch
 Notches and weirs
 A notch or weir is an overflow device placed across an open channel for the
purpose of measuring the flow
 A cut or opening made in a thin wall or place is usually called a notch
 It is mostly used for discharge measurement in small channels like
laboratory flumes
 A weir is a large structure. It is a thic walled barrier such as an anicut or
spillway dam built across a stream, canal or river for the purpose of storing
and regulating the flow.
 The edge or surface of the weir over which the liquid flows, is called the
crest or sill of the weir
 The height of U/S liquid level measured above the crest level is called the
“head” over the weir.
 The sheet of liquid emerging from the weir is called the “nappe”
 There are two conditions of flow that can occur in a Parshall Flume: free
flow and submerged flow. When free flow conditions exist, the user only
needs to collect one head measurement (Ha, the primary point of
measurement) to determine the discharge.
 This is located in the inlet of the flume, two-thirds of the length of the
converging section from the flume crest.
 A hydraulic jump occurs downstream of the flume for free flow
conditions.
 The free-flow discharge can be summarized as
 Q = CHan
Where
Q is flow rate
C is the free-flow coefficient for the flume
Ha is the head at the primary point of measurement
n varies with flume size
 Classification of weirs
According to the geometrical shape
 Rectangular
 Triangular
 Trapezoidal
 Circular or parabolic
Based on crest form
 Sharp-crested-std weir
 Narrow-crested
 Broad-crested
 Ogee
 Classification based on flow conditions
 Free weir
 Submerged weir
 Classification based on end conditions
 Contracted type (L<B) (L – length of the crest, B- width of
the channel)
 Suppressed type or full width weir (L=B)
Crump weir
Crump weir
 Commonly used in the UK for discharge
measurement
 The u/s slope is 1in2 and d/s slope is 1 in 5
 The sloping u/s face helps to reduce the dead
water region which occurs with broad crested
weirs
 It can also tolerate a high level of submergence.
 Its crest can also be constructed in Vee Shape so
that it can be used accurately for both small and
large discharges
Sutro /proportional weir
 Sutro weir

chemical dosing and sampling, irrigation outlets

 Flumes

 A flume is a flow measuring device

formed by a constriction in an open channel.
 The constriction can be either a narrowing
of the channel or a narrowing in combination
with a hump in the invert
 By providing sufficient amount of constriction, it is
possible to produce critical conditions there
 If critical condition exists, then there exists a unique
stage-discharge relationship independent of the
downstream conditions
 The flume may be operated as a free-flow, single-head measuring
device, or operated under submerged-flow conditions where two
heads are measured.
 The head in the converging section and the head near the
downstream end of the throat section are read on staff gages or in
stilling wells.
 Both gages have their datum at the elevation of the floor of the
converging section.
 Free flow occurs when the ratio of the lower gage reading to the
upper gage is less than 0.6. The discharge under this condition
depends only on the length of crest (width of throat section) and
depth of water at the upper gage.
About flume
 Submerged flow occurs when the ratio of the lower gage
reading to the upper gage reading exceeds 0.6. When this
occurs, a reduction adjustment to the free-flow rating of the
flume is needed.
 Since the flow velocity is high it is considered self-cleaning in
sediment laden streams and deposition of sediments is
practically eliminated.
 A flume that is properly constructed has an accuracy of 2-3
percent under free-flow conditions, but is less accurate
during submerged flow.
 Venturi flume and Standing wave flume
 A venturi flume is a critical-flow open flume with a constricted flow
which causes a drop in the hydraulic grade line, creating a critical depth.[
 It is used in flow measurement of very large flow rates, usually given in
millions of cubic units. A venturi meter would normally measure in
millimetres, whereas a venturi flume measures in metres.
 Measurement of discharge with venturi flumes requires two
measurements, one upstream and one at the throat (narrowest cross-
section), if the flow passes in a subcritical state through the flume.
 If the flumes are designed so as to pass the flow from sub critical to
supercritical state while passing through the flume, a single measurement
at the throat (which in this case becomes a critical section) is sufficient for
computation of discharge.
 To ensure the occurrence of critical depth at the throat, the flumes are
usually designed in such way as to form a hydraulic jump on the
downstream side of the structure. These flumes are called 'standing wave
flumes'
 Venturi Flume has long been the preferred choice for the
monitoring and measurement of waste water flows within
the water & Wastewater industries.
 Venturi Flumes enable accurate measurement of flows
combined with minimum maintenance requirements due to
their self cleaning properties.
Parshall flume
 A Parshall flume, the most recognized and commonly used
flume today, is a fixed hydraulic structure developed to measure
surface waters and irrigation flow.
 It is currently used to measure volumetric flow rate in industrial
discharges, municipal sewer lines, and influent/effluent flows in
wastewater treatment plants.
 The Parshall flume accelerates flow though a contraction of both
the parallel sidewalls and a drop in the floor at the flume throat.
 Under free-flow conditions the depth of water at specified
location upstream of the flume throat can be converted to a rate of
flow.
Modifications to the Venturi flume that
Parshall made include:[
 Decreasing the angle of convergence of the inlet walls
 Lengthening the throat
 Decreasing the angle of divergence of the outlet wall
 Introducing a drop through the throat of the flume
 Functions
 The Parshall Flume acts essentially as a constriction, a downward step,
and then an expansion: the upstream section is uniformly converging
and flat, the throat is a short parallel section that slopes downward,
and the downstream section is uniformly diverging and slopes upward
to an ending elevation that is less than the upstream starting elevation.

 The width of the throat determines the flume size; 22 standardized

sizes have been developed, ranging from 25 mm. to 15 m. (0.135 l/s
to 90 000 l/s).

 With the standard material being made out of fiberglass, the flume can
also be constructed of aluminum, galvanized steel, stainless steel,
lexan (small flumes), and PVC (small flumes).
 There are two conditions of flow that can occur in a Parshall Flume:
free flow and submerged flow.
 When free flow conditions exist, the user only needs to collect one
head measurement (Ha, the primary point of measurement) to
determine the discharge.
 This is located in the inlet of the flume, two-thirds of the length of
the converging section from the flume crest.
 A hydraulic jump occurs downstream of the flume for free flow
conditions.
 The free-flow discharge can be summarized as
 Q =CHan
 Where
 Q is flow rate
 C is the free-flow coefficient for the flume
 Ha is the head at the primary point of measurement
 n varies with flume size
 Advantages
 Smaller flumes are portable and can be used in irrigation channels
 It can be used to measure stream varying sizes
 It is self cleaning and sand silt and debris do not get deposited in the
flume due to different slope conditions of floors and the higher
velocity of flow within the structure than that in the channel
 Ordinary velocities of approach have little or no effect on the
measurements
 It operates successfully with a lower head than required for weirs
 It gives quite accurate measurements
 Drawbacks
 Parshall flumes require a drop in elevation through the flume. To
accommodate the drop in an existing channel either the flume must be
raised above the channel floor (raising the upstream water level) or the
downstream channel must be modified.
 As with weirs, flumes can also have an effect on local fauna. Some species or
certain life stages of the same species may be blocked by flumes due to
relatively slow swim speeds or behavioral characteristics.
 In earthen channels, upstream bypass and downstream scour may occur.
 Parshall flumes below 75 mm in size should not be used on unscreened
sanitary flows, due to the likelihood of clogging.
 The Parshall flume is an empirical device. Interpolation between sizes is not
an accurate method of developing intermediate size Parshall flumes as the
flumes are not scale models of each other.
 Cut Throat flume
 A venturiflume with zero throat length is called a cut throat flume.
Expansion immediately follows the contraction. It has no step on the
floor or any fall in the floor level.
 A cutthroat flume is commonly used as flow measuring device for open-
channel flow due to ease of fabrication and installation.
 This flume has become popular compared to others mainly because of its
simple geometry and horizontal bed, whichmake construction at a site
simple, reducing the cost.
 It is extensively used in irrigation systems in India.
 Cutthroat flume has two sections 1 a converging inlet section having a
length equal to L/3 and 2 a diverging outlet section having a length equal to
2L/3, where Ltotal length of the flume.
 As the throat length is zero, the flume is known as cutthroat flume or
throat less flume.
 The entire bed of the flume is kept horizontal and walls vertical.
Cut Throat Flume
 Advantages
 The simplicity of the Cutthroat flume’s geometry is such that it can be
fabricated in a wide variety of materials, including concrete,
galvanized steel, sheet polycarbonate, stainless steel, wood (temporary
applications), or fiberglass, as the application requires.
 The geometry of the Cutthroat flume is the same among different
lengths of Cutthroat flumes. The angle of contraction in the inlet
section and the angle of expansion in the outlet section are the same
for all Cutthroat flumes.
 As the free-flow coefficient (K) and the free-flow exponent (n) depend
only upon flume length, intermediate sizes Cutthroat flumes can be
developed without the need for laboratory verification.
 The flat-bottomed design means that the flume can be retrofitted into
existing channels without the need to raise the flume or adjust the
downstream hydraulics.
 Provided the throat width is large enough, with its flat-bottomed
design, the Cutthroat flume passes sediment and debris quite easily.
Disadvantages
 In earthen channels, upstream bypass and downstream scour
may occur.
 Cutthroat flumes with throat widths below 75 mm in size
should not be used on unscreened sanitary flows due to the
likelihood of clogging.
H-flume
H-Flume –Different views
H-Flume
 H-flumes are primarily designed for measuring flows that
vary widely such as seasonal runoff and over flow from dams.
 The recommended approach channel length is five times the
height of the flume.
 The width of the channel should equal the width of the
entrance to the flume.
 The flume crest should be set level with the approach
channel.
 The approach channel slope should not exceed 2 %.
 As the flow exits the flume, it must be able to spill clear or
flow in a manner equivalent to spilling clear.
Three categories of H-Flume
 HS flumes – small flume
 Its largest size D – 0.305 m
 Max Q – 0.022 m3/s
 H flumes – normal Flume
 Its largest size D – 1.37 m
 Max Q – 2.36 m3/s
HL flumes
D – 1.37 m
Max Q = 3.32 m3/s
 Weirs are usually provided for one of four fundamental reasons:

 Water level management

 Flow (discharge) measurement

 Environmental enhancement

 Channel stabilisation
Advantages of weirs
 Capable of accurately measuring a wide range of flows
 Tends to provide more accurate discharge ratings than flumes
and orifices
 Easy to construct
 Can be used in combination with turn out and dividion
structures
 Can be both portable and adjustable
 Most floating debris tends to pass over the structure
 Disadvantages
 Relatively large head required, particularly for free flow
conditions. This precludes the practical use of weirs for flow
measurement in flat areas
 The upstream pool must be maintained clean of sediment and
kept free of weeds and trash, otherwise the calibration will
shift and the measurement accuracy will be compromised.
 Higher maintenance cost than flumes
Guidelines for designing and operating
weirs
 The weir should be set at the lower end of a long pool sufficiently
wide and deep to give an even, smooth flow.
 The centre line of the weir notch should be parallel to the
direction of the flow.
 The face of the weir should be vertical, not leaning u/s nor d/s
 The crest of the weir should be level, so that water passing over it
will be of the same depth at all points along the crest.
 The upstream edge should be sharp so that the nappe touches the
crest only at the leading u/s edge.
 Ideally, though not always practical, the height of the crest above
the bottom of the pool, P, should be at least three times the depth
of water flowing over the weir crest.
 For accurate measurements the depth over the crest should be
more than one-third the length of the crest.
 The depth of water over the crest should be no less than 50 mm, as
it is difficult to obtain sufficiently accurate depth readings with
smaller depths.
 The crest should be placed high enough so water will fall freely
below the weir, leaving an air space under the over falling sheet of
water.
 To prevent erosion by the falling and swirling water, the channel
d/s from the weir should be protected by loose rock or other
material.
Site characteristics related to locating,
selecting and settling flumes
 Proper location of the flume is important from the stand
point of accuracy and ease of operation.
 Flume can be located near the diversion point and near the
regulating fgates if required
 Flume site should be easily accessible
 Site should enable to measure head accurately
 Flumes should not be installed too close to turbulent flow,
surging or unbalanced flow or a poorly distributed velcoity
pattern.
 The approach velocity should be greater than 0.3 m/s as far
as possible.
 To prevent wave interference of head measurement, the Froude
number of the approaching channel flow should be less than 0.5
for the full range of anticipated discharges.
 For accurate measurements, sufficient head loss must be created to
obtain a unique discharge versus head relationship.
 Downstream water level should not be influenced by operation of
gates or other laterals.
 Selected channel reach should have a stable bottom elevation.
 Erosion, sediment deposition should not occur.
 For accurate measurements, the crest must be properly leveled
and the walls must be properly plumbed.
 Flumes should be set on a solid, water tight foundation to prevent
leakage around and beneath the flume and prevent settlement.