Velocity Contour Weighting Method. II: Evaluation in Trapezoidal Channels and Roughness Sensitivity
This article is a reply.
VIEW THE ORIGINAL ARTICLEPublication: Journal of Hydraulic Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 11
Abstract
The Velocity Contour Weighting Method (VCWM) was developed in Part I to accurately estimate the cross-sectional average velocity of a prismatic channel flow using acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM) measurements of centerline velocity. Here, the VCWM is validated by its successful application to 25 different concrete-lined trapezoidal channels used for irrigation water delivery. At each site, the cross-sectional distribution of velocity is measured by an acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV), which is moved horizontally and vertically through a sampling grid. Multiple tests at some sites led to a total of 51 sets of cross-sectional measurements. ADVM measurements are simulated by interpolating ADV measurements along a set of vertically aligned centerline coordinates typical of ADVM deployments. Subsequent application of the VCWM gives an estimate of the cross-sectional average velocity. Secondly, the velocity-area method is applied to the ADV data to directly measure the cross-sectional average velocity for comparison with the VCWM estimate. Based on this comparison, relative percent errors in the VCWM for all 51 tests were within using a probable surface roughness () for the finished concrete of 0.0006 m without calibration. A sensitivity analysis shows that a range of realistic roughness values for finished concrete can be used without degrading the accuracy of the cross-sectional average velocity predictions by more than an additional . Hence, the method is relatively insensitive to poorly characterized roughness values.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to acknowledge Ron Bliesner, Past President, and Dr. Andrew Keller, President, Keller-Bliesner Engineering, LLC for providing the cross-sectional velocity distribution data. In addition, we would like to acknowledge Dr. Charles Burt, Chairman, Irrigation Training and Research Center, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, for his assistance. The writers appreciate the excellent and constructive comments made by the reviewers, which have strengthened both manuscripts. This research was supported by a grant from the University of California Prosser Trust (UNSPECIFIEDPR-020), whose support is gratefully acknowledged.
References
Chanson, H. (2004). The hydraulics of open channel flow: An introduction, Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, UK.
Chow, V. T. (1959). Open-channel hydraulics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Clemmens, A. J., Replogle, J. A., and Reinink, Y. (1990). “Field predictability of flume and weir operating conditions.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 116(1), 102–118.
Gupta, R. S. (1989). Hydrology and hydraulic systems, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Henderson, F. M. (1966). Open channel flow, MacMillan, New York.
Karpik, S. R., and Crockett, S. R. (1997). “Semi-Lagrangian algorithm for two-dimensional advection-diffusion equation on curvilinear coordinate meshes.” J. Hydraul. Eng., 123(5), 389–401.
Kreyszig, E. (2006). Advanced engineering mathematics, Wiley, New York.
Morlock, S. E., Nguyen, H. T., and Ross, J. H. (2002). Feasibility of acoustic Doppler velocity meters for the production of discharge records from U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations, USGS, Indianapolis.
SonTek/YSI Inc. (2007). FlowTracker handheld ADV technical manual, San Diego.
Styles, S. W., Busch, B., Howes, D., and Cardenas, M. (2006). Non-standard structure flow measurement evaluation using the flow rate indexing procedure—QIP, Irrigation Training and Research Center, California Polytechnic State Univ., San Luis Obispo, CA.
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. (1997). Water measurement manual, Dept. of the Interior, Denver.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Apr 20, 2010
Accepted: May 10, 2011
Published online: May 12, 2011
Published in print: Nov 1, 2011
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.