Venturi flume

A venturi flume is a critical-flow open flume with a constricted flow which causes a drop in the hydraulic grade line, creating a critical depth. A venturi flume is a critical-flow open flume with a constricted flow which causes a drop in the hydraulic grade line, creating a critical depth. It is used in flow measurement of very large flow rates, usually given in millions of cubic units. A venturi meter would normally measure in millimetres, whereas a venturi flume measures in metres. Measurement of discharge with venturi flumes requires two measurements, one upstream and one at the throat (narrowest cross-section), if the flow passes in a subcritical state through the flume. If the flumes are designed so as to pass the flow from sub critical to supercritical state while passing through the flume, a single measurement at the throat (which in this case becomes a critical section) is sufficient for computation of discharge. To ensure the occurrence of critical depth at the throat, the flumes are usually designed in such way as to form a hydraulic jump on the downstream side of the structure. These flumes are called 'standing wave flumes' Venturi flumes have two advantages over weirs where the critical depth is created by a vertical constriction. First, the hydraulic head loss is smaller in flumes than in weirs. Second, there is no dead zone in flumes where sediment and debris can accumulate; such a dead zone exists upstream of the weirs. A modified version of the Venturi flume is the Parshall flume. Named after it creator, Dr. Ralph L. Parshall of the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, the Parshall flume is a fixed hydraulic structure used in measuring volumetric flow rate in surface water, wastewater treatment plant, and industrial discharge applications. The Parshall flume accelerates flow through a contraction of both the parallel sidewalls and a drop in the floor at the flume throat. Under free-flow conditions the depth of water at specified location upstream of the flume throat can be converted to a rate of flow.