Monitoring Industrial Discharges in Tight Spaces

custom reduced sidewall 3-inch Parshall flume for industrial discharge application For industries required to measure and / or sample their effluents prior to discharging to a municipal sewer system or surface water, finding sufficient area to install a primary device can be a struggle.

In many instances, it is difficult to find a site that provides sufficient piping straight run (usually 15-25 pipe diameters) to allow the installation of a standard flume or weir.

Custom Weir Boxes

In theses instances, custom configuration weir boxes can provide both above and below grade location flexibility. Weir boxes lend themselves to the incorporation of multiple and different sizes of waste streams into to one flow measurement structure.

customer up-flow fiberglass weir box manufactured by Openchannelflow

Interior baffles, energy absorbers, and flow tranquilizers can all be integrated into the upstream weir pool to condition the flow for accurate flow measurement. Also, once the flow discharges over the weir plate, it can discharge out of the weir box by spilling off the end, drop out a vertical discharge pipe, or pipe out inline with the direction of flow or left / right out of the box.

Custom Flumes

For applications where a weir box is not suitable (due to flow rate, composition, burial depth, etc.), a flume can usually be used. Flumes can be integrated into at / above grade enclosures, cast into concrete channels, or factory integrated into Packaged Metering Manholes.

nested Palmer Bowlus flumes in an Openchannelflow Redstone 66 fiberglass enclosure

In addition, if the flow approaching the flume is energetic, turbulent, or possessing a poor velocity profile, Energy Absorbers can be used to condition the flow prior to it entering the flume.

Openchannelflow Redstone 66 fiberglass enclosure with energy absorber and tranquilizing rack

Energy Absorbers

Energy Absorbers can be take a variety of shapes and can be integrated into above grade enclosures, incorporated into custom flume inlets, or can be part of a fiberglass manhole. For above grade applications, an Energy Absorber is usually placed in a separate enclosure directly upstream of the flume (which is itself usually integrated into an enclosure). In space constrained applications (either above or below grade) the inlet end adapter of a flume can sometimes be lengthened enough to allow for the incorporation of an Energy Absorber. Finally in deeper below grade applications, Energy Absorbers can be integrated into fiberglass manholes and placed immediately upstream of a Packaged Metering Manhole.

interior of a fiberglass Energy Absorbing manhole manufactured by Openchannelflow