Stilling Wells
Stilling wells attach to the sides of flumes and allow for the flow to be stilled making monitoring easier for operators and sensors. Each stilling well is custom built to appropriately match its flume. If the flow through your flume is suboptimal, has floating debris, or foamy, a stilling well is a great solution to take flow measurements with more accuracy.
Covered flumes and flumes in tight spaces also benefit from a stilling well by giving a clear, exposed point of access to the point of measurement.
How Stilling Wells work
Flow through a flume is read at a point Ha . At this point there is a hole bored in the sidewall of the flume, just off the floor. This hole allows for the flow to fill the well directly or travel through piping to a detached stilling well.
When connected the Flume and the stilling well act as “communicating vessels” which due to Pascal’s Principle will always have the same level under standard atmospheric pressure. Because the stilling well is a separate vessel it will not be subject to the same turbulent flows, debris, and foam that could be found in the main channel. This flow is considered “stilled” and can easily be read by eye using a calibrated staff gauge or an electronic flow sensor such as an ultrasonic flow meter or bubble tube.
Tracom FRP stilling wells can be purchased attached or detached. For detached stilling wells 2” NPT couplings are tapped into both the flume and the well and can be connected with the correct length tube or pipe on site. Stilling wells can be placed on either side of the flume, or both.
