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The common method of installing a flume is to encase it in concrete or an earthen channel. Sometimes, though, flow needs to be measured where this just isn’t an option. For these installations something else is needed: a freestanding installation!

The Cutthroat Flume is one of the more recent styles of flumes to be developed. Development of what would become the Cutthroat Flume began during the 1960’s at the Utah State Water Research Laboratory. The goal was to create a low-cost flume to monitor surface water flows…

In the right applications, galvanized steel Parshall flumes can be a good choice to measuring the flow of water. Irrigation and water rights applications (generally in the Intermountain Region of CO, UT, WY, MT, ID) were abrasive grit, stones, or debris are not present are…

In an earlier article we discussed the use of flat 45ª wing walls to transition flow into Parshall flumes. The article focused on Blaisdell’s observation that a standing wave and wave trough were generated downstream of the intersection of the inlet 45ª flat wing wall and the…

While many flumes are grouted into place, a sizable number are also installed in earthen channels (furrows, irrigation ditches, creeks, etc.). The traditional method of excavating the area, packing the earth, installing the flume, and then backfilling with the excavation dirt…

The majority of errors in open channel flow measurement result from designers, installers, or operators - not from the equipment itself.  These errors result from a vareity of sources - from a lack to training to inattention to detail - and are avoidable. Avoidable flow…

For a Parshall flume to function correctly it is important that certain guidelines be followed when selecting a site and installing the flume. In particular, the upstream conditions are of critical importance. It is tempting to say that there just isn’t room to position the…

We see Parshall Flumes at wastewater treatment plants measuring sanitary flows so often that sometimes we forget the original reason that the Parshall Flume was developed – to measure irrigation flows. With 22 sizes available, Parshall Flumes are capable of measuring flows from…

One of the advantages of using a device like a Parshall Flume is that, properly installed and applied, there is NO NEED TO CALIBRATE THE FLUME! Now that doesn’t mean that you don’t need to periodically check to make sure the Parshall Flume isn’t clean and level, or that the…

At the turn of the last century, the Venturi flume was one of the few devices available to measure irrigation flows. While popular at the time, the Venturi flume had it problems.

The USBR - U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (a part of the Department of the Interior) has long been a source of information on the Parshall Flume - particularly with their Water Measurement Manual (WMM).

A Packaged Metering Manhole (PMM) is a fiberglass manhole into which a primary device has been integrated. In addition to the above, Packaged Metering Manholes allow the integration of primary devices larger than would otherwise be able to be easily accommodated in concrete…