river flow measurement technology - wskep
TRANSCRIPT
River flow measurement technology Working with monitoring teams to improve efficiency and data
quality........
Nick Everard – Technical Adviser, Hydro-Acoustics
Environment Agency, United Kingdom
Chinese Ministry of Water Resources, October 11th 2013
• 26 years experience working in
Hydrometry
• 6 years with Head Office team
• Leader on hydro-acoustic
technologies and techniques
“Improving river flow
measurement through”:
• Training and guidance
• Technical standards
• Equipment testing and
development
• Software testing and
development
• Liaison with manufacturers
• International liaison
Nick Everard
Water security
If you don’t know how much water
you have, you can’t plan what to
do with it
River discharge and Water Security
River flow gauging
transformed...
From this..........
From current meters to ADCPs
To this..........
..in just 15 years
15 years ago, river gauging was tough.....
…It takes a long time.
I’m cold and wet and I
don’t know the results
until I’ve finished
And its scary
standing here over
the water …..
Gauging required many
people and took a long time
Caused obstruction to
pedestrians….
And river users…..
Cable
across river
And it wasn’t much better
on big rivers…….
Often, only one site gauged
in a day, with 4-5 people
Acoustic
Doppler
Current
Profiler
Then came ADCPs!
Efficiency much improved:
• 4-6 sites in a day
• 2 or 3 people Environment Agency
Gauging was safer,
easier and nicer
Introduced to Environment
Agency in 2002
• Pulses of sound measure
water speed and depth
• Now we have a complete
picture of flows in river
• Quicker (10 minutes!)
• Safer
• More accurate
• Fewer people required
And put people at risk,
on the water…….
This had disadvantages:
• Transporting boat (trailer)
• Boat driver training
• Trailer driver training
But often we still had to use
manned boats
.........and.......
• Boat servicing
• Trailer servicing
• Launching boat……
A collaboration between the
EA and HR Wallingford.
Optimised to Environment
Agency needs.
So we developed a remote control
ADCP boat..... The ARC-Boat
20 now is use, in
all EA regions Now selling
around the world
RC boats benefits
• Quicker
• Safer
• Reduced manpower
• Improved data
• Gauge where you want to,
not just where the bridge is
****Save you money****
Opens up new applications for
your ADCPs (the big growth
area for ADCP use....?)
Weirpool survey, River
Thames near Oxford
Goes where we don’t want to.....
Post-flood survey, Cumbria
Nasty, foamy mess, Nottingham
A field
Get measurements you couldn’t
get before.......
The river
RC boat cruised
across river and field.
Highest ever
gauging at this site
20% of total flow
not in river.
Move away from just ‘what is the
flow?’
to
‘What does that flow look like? How
does it influence morphology and
ecology? Will it support fish?’
More than just discharge
Surveys for:
• Fish passage
• Hydro-power
• Water Framework Directive
• Dredging (navigation)
• Reservoir Act
• River channel enhancements
• Flow measurement sites
(Index velocity, transit time)
A survey solution
ADCP
+ remote control boat
+ high accuracy GPS
=
A great solution for
bathymetry and velocity
surveys
• Information exchanges
• Training
• Instrumentation testing
• Software tools
• RC Boats
• Discussion groups (e-mail) We can all learn from
each other.......
Working with ADCPs:
Collaborating nationally
and internationally A strong community of
expertise, in the EA
and internationally
Started 2011.
Developing expert users in all regions...
....and sharing with other agencies • Training workshops
• Equipment and software
testing
• Local guidance and leadership
• Managing the equipment
(service, repair, updates etc)
ADCP Technical leads
• 50 ADCP systems tested
• Staff from all Environment Agency
regions
• Co-ordinated by Head Office
ADCP Performance Testing:
ADCP Regatta
Also, invited guests from:
• SEPA (Scotland)
• OPW (Ireland)
• SMHI (Sweden)
• NVE (Norway)
Making sure the instruments report flow correctly
Even the ADCP
manufacturers attend.
A great opportunity to
influence.
ADCP Performance Testing
Even the ADCP manufacturers
attend.
A great opportunity to influence.
Jim Rogers, head of Water Resources
products, Teledyne RD Instruments, USA
Soon after the event, changes
made to software –
communications with ADCPs
much improved.
Hydro-Logic, UK
NVE, Norway
SMHI, Sweden
RDI, USA
OPW, Ireland
SEPA, Scotland
ADCP Performance Test 2012
A truly international event.......
And 30 Environment Agency
ADCP experts
Training for
• EA Hydrometry staff
and overseas agencies:
• Norway
• Sweden
• Ireland
• Scotland
ADCP Training SMHI, Sweden 2011
Internal training delivery:
• Saves money
• Develops staff
• Boosts EA reputation
• Earns money (?!)
River Wharfe, Yorkshire
Velocities in excess of 3
metres/second
Any questions?
Environment Agency