Toward Nonintrusive Flood Discharge Measurement
Publication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 12
Abstract
The current discharge measurement methods in rivers are known to be accurate for low and mean discharges, but large debris and high velocities prevent the use of these conventional methods during flood season. Therefore, a nonintrusive method to measure discharge during floods has been developed. The method elaborated in a laboratory channel proceeds in two steps. In a first step the water surface was recorded with three calibrated charge coupled device (CCD) cameras using identical frequency. To determine the geometry and the velocity field of the free surface, floating tracer particles were added to the flow. In a second step a finite element program was employed to compute the discharge based on recorded surface information. An iterative procedure using the commercial finite element program CFX allows one to determine discharge. This approach considers river portions with a locally strong variable bed geometry such as drop structures whose bed profile is measured conventionally prior to or after the flood event. Laboratory experimentation demonstrated an average error in discharge measurement of 2–3%.
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Acknowledgments
This research project was supported by “Doktorieren an der anderen ETH” of ETH-Rat, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. The numerical approach was initiated by Professor Dr. W. Kinzelbach, IHW, and supported in terms of photogrammetric methods by Professor Dr. A. Grün, IGP. The writers would also like to acknowledge the support of Dr. F. Hermann, formerly at VAW, for computational aid.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 12 • December 2005
Pages: 1031 - 1035
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 7, 2002
Accepted: Dec 1, 2004
Published online: Dec 1, 2005
Published in print: Dec 2005
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