Q = 2⁄3 cbh √2gh
where c = 0.62; or, better, the formula in § 42 may be used.
Gauging weirs are most commonly in the form of rectangular notches; and care should be taken that the crest is accurately horizontal, and that the weir is normal to the direction of flow of the stream. If the planks are thick, they should be bevelled (fig. 67), and then the edge may be protected by a metal plate about 1⁄10th in. thick to secure the requisite accuracy of form and sharpness of edge. In permanent gauging weirs, a cast steel plate is sometimes used to form the edge of the weir crest. The weir should be large enough to discharge the maximum volume flowing in the stream, and at the same time it is desirable that the minimum head should not be too small (say half a foot) to decrease the effects of errors of measurement. The section of the jet over the weir should not exceed one-fifth the section of the stream behind the weir, or the velocity of approach will need to be taken into account. A triangular notch is very suitable for measurements of this kind.
| Fig. 66. |
If the flow is variable, the head h must be recorded at equidistant intervals of time, say twice daily, and then for each 12-hour period the discharge must be calculated for the mean of the heads at the beginning and end of the time. As this involves a good deal of troublesome calculation, E. Sang proposed to use a scale so graduated as to read off the discharge in cubic feet per second. The lengths of the principal graduations of such a scale are easily calculated by putting Q = 1, 2, 3 ... in the ordinary formulae for notches; the intermediate graduations may be taken accurately enough by subdividing equally the distances between the principal graduations.
| Fig. 67. |
| Fig. 68. |
The accurate measurement of the discharge of a stream by means of a weir is, however, in practice, rather more difficult than might be inferred from the simplicity of the principle of the operation. Apart from the difficulty of selecting a suitable coefficient of discharge, which need not be serious if the form of the weir and the nature of its crest are properly attended to, other difficulties of measurement arise. The length of the weir should be very accurately determined, and if the weir is rectangular its deviations from exactness of level should be tested. Then the agitation of the water, the ripple on its surface, and the adhesion of the water to the scale on which the head is measured, are liable to introduce errors. Upon a weir 10 ft. long, with 1 ft. depth of water flowing over, an error of 1-1000th of a foot in measuring the head, or an error of 1-100th of a foot in measuring the length of the weir, would cause an error in computing the discharge of 2 cub. ft. per minute.
Hook Gauge.—For the determination of the surface level of water, the most accurate instrument is the hook gauge used first by U. Boyden of Boston, in 1840. It consists of a fixed frame with scale and vernier. In the instrument in fig. 68 the vernier is fixed to the frame, and the scale slides vertically. The scale carries at its lower end a hook with a fine point, and the scale can be raised or lowered by a fine pitched screw. If the hook is depressed below the water surface and then raised by the screw, the moment of its reaching the water surface will be very distinctly marked, by the reflection from a small capillary elevation of the water surface over the point of the hook. In ordinary light, differences of level of the water of .001 of a foot are easily detected by the hook gauge. If such a gauge is used to determine the heads at a weir, the hook should first be set accurately level with the weir crest, and a reading taken. Then the difference of the reading at the water surface and that for the weir crest will be the head at the weir.
§ 56. Modules used in Irrigation.—In distributing water for irrigation, the charge for the water may be simply assessed on the area of the land irrigated for each consumer, a method followed in India; or a regulated quantity of water may be given to each consumer, and the charge may be made proportional to the quantity of water supplied, a method employed for a long time in Italy and other parts of Europe. To deliver a regulated quantity of water from the irrigation channel, arrangements termed modules are used. These are constructions intended to maintain a constant or approximately constant head above an orifice of fixed size, or to regulate the size of the orifice so as to give a constant discharge, notwithstanding the variation of level in the irrigating channel.