Quantifying Uncertainty in Discharge Measurements: A New Approach
Publication: World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2009: Great Rivers
Abstract
The accuracy of discharge measurements using velocity meters and the velocity-area method is typically assessed based on empirical studies that may not correspond to conditions encountered in practice. In this paper, a statistical approach for assessing uncertainty based on interpolated variance estimation (IVE) is introduced. The IVE method quantifies all sources of random uncertainty in the measured data. This paper presents results employing data from sites where substantial over-sampling allowed for the comparison of IVE-estimated uncertainty and observed variability among repeated measurements. These results suggest that the IVE approach can provide approximate estimates of measurement uncertainty. The use of IVE to estimate the uncertainty of a discharge measurement would provide the hydrographer an immediate determination of uncertainty and help determine whether there is a need for additional sampling in problematic river cross sections.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2009 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Case studies
- Comparative studies
- Continuum mechanics
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Hydrographs
- Hydrologic engineering
- Hydrology
- Mathematics
- Measurement (by type)
- Methodology (by type)
- Motion (dynamics)
- Research methods (by type)
- River engineering
- Rivers and streams
- Solid mechanics
- Statistics
- Uncertainty principles
- Water and water resources
- Water discharge
- Water discharge measurement
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.