Abstract
Discharge estimation is important for water management. Side orifices are commonly used in irrigation and drainage networks for distributing the water. Despite the vast amount of theoretical and experimental studies published, no generally applicable discharge equations are available for elliptical sharp-crested side orifices. When the length (diameter) of the circular side orifice is not sufficient to divert the water, an elliptical side orifice is a good alternative. In this paper, the elliptical sharp-crested side orifices were studied theoretically and experimentally. Several models were developed to predict the discharge coefficient of elliptical side orifices based on the Buckingham's theorem of dimensional analysis. A series of laboratory runs (588 runs) were conducted for different values of orifice geometry. The main channel discharge used in the tests ranged from 13.8 to 39.6 l/s and the side orifice discharge ranged from 3.66 to 21.4 l/s and upstream Froude number ranged from 0.22 to 0.77. Using measurements obtained by laboratory runs carried out in this investigation the proposed models of elliptical side orifices were calibrated under free outflow conditions. The model that includes the approach Froude number had an average error of 1.74%, while other model that does not include the approach Froude number had an average error about 2.43%. Moreover, suitable models were proposed for design procedure when measurement data for flow depths above the centroid of the orifice are not available. In this case, the model that includes the approach Froude number had an average error of 1.92%, while other model that does not include the approach Froude number had an average error of 2.24%. It was found that the proposed stage-discharge relationships were in an excellent agreement with the experimental results.
Published Version
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call