Decreasing Measuring Errors of a Thermal Groundwater Flowmeter
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132, Issue 3
Abstract
The probe of a commercial thermal groundwater flowmeter was evaluated in the laboratory to determine the causes of apparent inaccurate results from field experiments conducted under high groundwater velocities in a gravel and coarse sand soil. The test was performed with water velocities from 2.3 to 103 m/day. Errors as large as 40% arose in the magnitude and direction of velocities within the measuring range specified by the manufacturer. The poor cosine response of the thermal sensor axes was found to be a major source of errors, because the accuracy of the velocity vector depends strongly on the angular response of the thermal sensor axes. This was partially corrected with a set of coefficients determined from laboratory tests.
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Acknowledgments
The writers are very grateful to the Istituto di Scienze Marine (CNR of Venice, Italy) for having provided them with the same KVGF Model 30 used in the field experiment near Venice.
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Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 132 • Issue 3 • June 2006
Pages: 284 - 287
Copyright
© 2006 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 18, 2003
Accepted: Apr 20, 2005
Published online: Jun 1, 2006
Published in print: Jun 2006
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