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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Maricopa, Arizona » U.S. Arid Land Agricultural Research Center » Water Management and Conservation Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #136160
Title: TOOLS FOR DESIGN, CALIBRATION, CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF LONG-THROATED FLUMES AND BROAD-CRESTED WEIRS

Author
item WAHL, TONY - BOR, DENVER, CO
item CLEMMENS, ALBERT - 5344-20-01
item BOS, MARINUS - ILRI, THE NETH
item Replogle, John

Submitted to: US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage/Environmental and Water Resources Institute Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2002
Publication Date: 7/13/2002
Citation: Wahl, T.L., Clemmens, A.J., Bos, M.G., Replogle, J.A. 2002. Tools for design, calibration, construction and use of long-throated flumes and broad-crested weirs. US Committee on Irrigation and Drainage/Environmental and Water Resources Institute Conference. p. 601-610.

Interpretive Summary: The total demand for water in the Western United States exceeds the available supply. Our ability to determine the amount of water diverted for various uses is crucial. There are many locations where measurement of water is either inaccurate or difficult and expensive. An existing water measurement device for open channels, the long-throated flume, has been made more practical, more accurate, less expensive, more adaptable, and easier to design and calibrate due to the development of new software, called Winflume. The Winflume software provides a convenient method for design and calibration so that the flume can be adapted to the specific site. A new book has been written to describe the theory behind these flumes and to demonstrate the wide range of application. This paper briefly describes these flumes, the book, and the software for interested users. These results should be of use to irrigation districts, consultants, municipalities, and federal agencies dealing with water issues, for example, the Bureau of Reclamation, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the U.S. Geological Survey

Technical Abstract: Long-throated flumes and broad-crested weirs provide a practical, low-cost, flexible means of measuring open-channel flows in new and existing irrigation systems and have distinct advantages over other flume and weir devices. Application of these flumes and weirs has been greatly facilitated by the 1999 release of the WinFlume software used to design and calibrate these structures, and the recent publication of Water Measurement with Flumes and Weirs, a text providing comprehensive information on design, calibration, construction, and operation issues. The primary advantages of these flumes and weirs are that they can be custom-designed to satisfy unique operational and site requirements, and they can be computer calibrated without the need for laboratory testing. In addition, these devices are easily and economically constructed, and a number of commercially built, pre-calibrated devices are available. This paper and accompanying poster describe the use of the WinFlume software and present examples to illustrate application to a range of situations, including various flow rates, channel types, and construction techniques.