While there are a wide variety of flow measurement tools that you could employ in your water management operation, few are as versatile and effective as H-flumes. By choosing an H-flume, you’ll be getting an extremely sensitive measurement tool that is also resilient in the face of sedimentation and debris accumulation. For free-spilling discharge measurement, there’s no better tool than an H-flume.
However, like almost every flow measurement tools, making sure you get the most out of your H-flume depends on proper installation, which can be difficult if you don’t know the right steps. Read this quick H-flume installation guide that will help you incorporate this extremely useful flow measurement tool into your operation.
Sizing Your Flume
The first and most important step in planning your H-flume installation is ensuring that your flume is the correct size. Contrary to what you might believe, this can be extremely difficult and requires estimating four different flow rates. Without these numbers, you won’t be able to size your flume correctly, causing future problems for your operation.
The four flow rates that you need to calculate are average flow, minimum flow, maximum flow and surge flow. Once you know these numbers, you can accurately choose the size of your H-flume.
Installation Conditions
After sizing your H-flume to correctly handle the typical flows in your system, you next need to consider the conditions at the installation site. Unfortunately, not every installation site will be suitable for your H-flume. Examining the site before you begin the installation process may save you quite a deal of effort and frustration.
First, you need to consider the upstream conditions. For instance, the upstream flow entering your flume should be the right velocity and properly developed. You should be certain that turns in your channel are as far away from your flume as possible.
Second, you need to correctly position your flume. Your H-flume should be placed completely level in your channel and the v-shaped notch of your flume should be pointed downstream. When placing in a natural channel, you will need to anchor your flume and make sure that there is no risk of flow bypassing your flume.
Thirdly and finally, you need to examine your potential downstream condition. The main reason for this is that H-flumes are extremely vulnerable to submergence. If submergence is a concern, an H-flume may not be the right choice for your operation. You will also need to be certain that discharge is able to spill freely if want the most accurate readings possible.
Follow Your H-Flume Installation Guide
With these simple tips, you should be able to easily and successfully install your H-flume. However, before you can start following your H-flume installation guide, you need to purchase your H-flume, which is why you should work with the water management professionals you’ll find at Tracom, FRP.
The benefit of working with Tracom is having access to a huge inventory of dependable fiberglass water management tools. One of our representatives can help you browse through our catalogue until you find the tools that you need to improve your water operation’s level of success. Ask for a quote from Tracom today so that you can start equipping your system with fiberglass H-flumes.
