Abstract
AbstractMeasuring water flow is essential for sound irrigation management. New commercial flowmeters based on acoustic technology have become popular for measuring water discharge in open channels of irrigation schemes in Spain and various other countries. There are two main types of acoustic flowmeter: transit‐time and Doppler. We tested a commercial instrument of each type (a Risonic 2000 and an Argonaut‐SW, respectively) in the field throughout an entire irrigation season. The instruments were installed in rectangular cross‐sections of one of the secondary canals in the B‐XII irrigation scheme, Spain. The discharges tested varied from 0.1 to 4 m3 s−1. To obtain reference data, we used a propeller current meter to measure the flow velocity across the test canal sections. Both the Risonic 2000 and Argonaut‐SW instruments provided measurements that were highly consistent with those obtained from the propeller meter. The Argonaut‐SW, mounted at the bottom of the canal, had to be reinstalled twice during the irrigation season since it was displaced by debris dragged by the flowing water. The Risonic 2000, mounted on the canal walls, operated without interruption during the entire season. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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