Optimised triangular Weir design for assessing the full-scale performance of green infrastructure
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Published version
Author(s)
El Hattab, Mohamad
Mijic, Ana
Vernon, Dejan
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Conventional triangular weirs have been originally developed to measure, divert, and control surface water. However, special application of these weirs, such as for low flow measurements in full-scale monitoring of Green Infrastructure (GI) is not well investigated. Available head-discharge relationships for triangular sharp-crested weirs are only valid under a free-flow regime. Literature focusing on the V-notch weir usage for GI assessment suggests that it is necessary to calibrate the head-discharge relationship before its use. This study focuses on understanding the effects of site constraints on the measurement performance of a V-notch weir at low flow rates, and the validity of equations derived for similar applications that can be found in the literature. The variation of discharge coefficient in various flow regimes was investigated experimentally based on calibration runs covering flow rates between 0.054 l/s and 7 l/s. The results show that for 30° and 45° V-notch weirs three flow regimes can be identified. It was observed that literature equations to calculate the discharge coefficient are valid for partially-contracted triangular weir only at heads greater than vertex distance from the channel. However, for low flows that are expected to occur when estimating the full-scale performance of GI, the equations available from the literature for similar site conditions underestimated the flow rate between 85% and 17%. This emphasises the need for accurate calibration of a V-notch device under the site conditions to achieve the necessary level of accuracy in GI performance estimation. The procedure outlined in this work can be easily replicated to determine the optimal monitoring system configuration. Alternatively, if the site conditions would match those described, the computed discharge using the proposed relations, in combination with the general V-notch weir equation, provides a significant improvement in the accuracy of measurements, expands the head applicability range of V-notch weirs, and enables better understanding of GI performance at the full scale.
Date Issued
2019-04-14
Date Acceptance
2019-04-12
Citation
Water, 2019, 11
ISSN
2073-4441
Publisher
MDPI
Journal / Book Title
Water
Volume
11
Copyright Statement
© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution
(CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Subjects
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 773