Parshall Flume Discharge Corrections: Wall Staff Gauge and Centerline Measurements
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 137, Issue 12
Abstract
Parshall flumes were developed in the early 1900s as a simple and inexpensive way to provide accurate flow measurement in open channels. Unfortunately, many Parshall flumes in use today do not follow essential design parameters that prevent them from accurately measuring flow. Two design parameters that are commonly overlooked are: the need to measure upstream head in the correct location and the need to have appropriate entrance wingwalls attached to the flume. With recent advancements in computational fluid dynamics (CFD), numerical modeling has made it possible to accurately model nonstandard Parshall flume designs of varying sizes without extensive financial commitments for physical modeling. This paper utilizes numerical modeling to create a correction procedure for 2–8-ft nonstandard Parshall flumes. Basic background information regarding Parshall flumes and the numerical model used are presented. In addition, the results and correction procedures determined when head measurements are taken at any location (other than the standard design location) on the converging wall or along the longitudinal centerline of the flume with either standard or nonstandard entrance wingwalls.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Abt, S. R., and Staker, K. J. (1990). “Rating correction for lateral settlement of Parshall flumes.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 116(6), 797–803.
Abt, S. R., and Staker, K. J. (1992). “Closure to ‘Rating correction for lateral settlement of Parshall flumes’.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 118(2), 339–340.
Abt, S. R., Florentin, C. B., Genovez, A., and Ruth, B. C. (1995). “Settlement and submergence adjustments for Parshall flume.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 121(5), 317–321.
Abt, S. R., Genovez, A., and Florentin, B. (1994). “Correction for settlement in submerged Parshall flumes.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 120(3), 676–682.
Abt, S. R., Ruth, B. C., and Skowron, E. M. (1998). “Rating adjustment for settlement of cutthroat flumes.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 124(6), 311–315.
Abt, S. R., Thompson, K., and Staker, K. (1989). “Discharge correction for longitudinal settlement of Parshall flumes.” Trans. ASABE, ASAE, 32(5), 1541–1544.
Bos, M. G., ed. (1978). Discharge measurement structures, 3rd Ed., Publication No. 20, Int. Institute For Land Reclamation and Improvement/ILRI, Wageningen, Netherlands.
Cone, V. M. (1917). “The Venturi flume.” J. Agr. Res., 9(4), 115–123.
Flow-3D Version 9.3.2 [Computer software]. (2008). Flow Science, Inc., Santa Fe, NM.
Genovez, A., Abt, S., Florentin, B., and Garton, A. (1993). “Correction for settlement of Parshall flume.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 119(6), 1081–1091.
Heiner, B. J., (2009). “Parshall flume staff gauge location and entrance wingwall discharge calibration corrections.” M.S. thesis, Paper 480, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Utah State Univ., Logan, UT, 6–38, 〈http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/480〉 (Jan. 2010).
Hirt, C. W. (1992). “Volume-fraction techniques: Powerful tools for flow modeling.” Flow Science Rep. No. FSI-92-00-02, Flow Science, Inc., Santa Fe, NM.
Hirt, C. W., and Sicilian, J. M. (1985). “A porosity technique for the definition of obstacles in rectangular cell meshes.” Proc., 4th Int. Conf. Ship Hydro., National Academy of Science, Washington, DC.
Hirt, C. W., and Nichols, B. D. (1981). “Volume of fluid (VOF) method for the dynamics of free boundaries.” J. Comput. Phys., 39, 201–225.
Kruse, E. G. (1992). “Discussion of ‘Rating correction for lateral settlement of Parshall flumes.” J. Irrig. Drain. Eng., ASCE, 118(2), 337–339.
Merkley, G. P. (2008). “Irrigation conveyance and control flow measurement and structure design.” Lecture Notes, Class CEE 6005, Utah State Univ., Logan, UT, 〈www.neng.usu.edu/bie/faculty/merkley〉.
Parshall, R. L. (1926). “The improved Venturi flume.” Trans., ASCE, 89, 841–851.
Parshall, R. L. (1936). “The Parshall measuring flume.” Bull. no. 423, agric. experiment station, Colorado Agricultural College, Fort Collins, CO.
Peck, H. (1988). “Submerged flows in Parshall flumes.” Proc., Nat. Conf. of Hydr. Div., ASCE, Reston, VA.
Robinson, A. R. (1965). “Simplified flow corrections for Parshall flumes under submerged conditions.” Civ Eng., ASCE, 25(9), 75.
Skogerboe, G. V., Hyatt, M. L., England, J. D., and Johnson, J. L. (1967). “Design and calibration of submerged open channel flow measurement structures. Part 2: Parshall flumes.” Rep. WG31-3, Utah Water Res. Lab., Utah State Univ., Logan, UT.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). (2001). Water measurement manual, 3rd Ed., U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). (2007). Water operation and maintenance bull. No. 180, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
Yakhot, V., and Orszag, S. A. (1986). “Renormalization group analysis of turbulence. I. Basic theory.” J. Scientific Computing, 1(1), 3–51.
Yakhot, V., and Smith, L. M. (1992). “The renormalization group, the ε-expansion and derivation of turbulence models.” J. Scientific Computing, 7(1), 35–61.
Yang, S., Liang, G., Zhao, W., Xie, D., and Huang, Z. (2009). “Design of low power consumption ultrasonic open channel flow meter.” 9th Int. Conf. on Electronic Measurement and Instruments. The Chinese Institute of Electronics, Beijing.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 137 • Issue 12 • December 2011
Pages: 779 - 792
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Mar 4, 2010
Accepted: Jan 31, 2011
Published online: Feb 1, 2011
Published in print: Dec 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.