Practical aspects of the use of the sluice gate discharge equations to estimate the volumetric flow rate in the irrigation channels

Abstract

The article presents the experimental results of the calibration of the typical check structure with sluice gates installed in a trapezoidal irrigation channel. Hydraulic experiments on sluice gate discharge capacity were performed on a model made in a 1:2 scale. It has been explained how the method of measuring the downstream water depth below the sluice gate in the check structures installed in a trapezoidal irrigation channels affects the measured depth values. On the basis of hydraulic measurements, regression relationships were developed for the discharge coefficients for submerged outflow through the sluice gate in two types of sluice gates installed in irrigation channels. The formulas allow to calculate the volumetric flow rate below the submerged sluice gate after determining the water depth upstream and below the sluice gate and the gate opening height. The differences in volumetric flow rates calculated from regression relationships and measured values do not exceed 10%, which confirms their practical suitability for calculating the discharge through a sluice gate mounted in a trapezoidal channel. The values of the discharge coefficients determined in the channels with rectangular cross-sections are not useful for the discharge coefficients of sluice gates check structures installed in trapezoidal channels. Nomograms and relationships for discharge coefficients of the analysed sluice gate were developed.