FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL AND CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING

HYDRAULICS LABORATORY
1.VENTURI FLUME EXPERIMENT
INTRODUCTION
Flumes are one of the many types of engineering hydraulic structures extensively used in
hydraulics to control, regulate and measure flow in channels.
Equations of flow are derived from the energy equation and continuity.

Objective
To confirm the expression for the discharge through venture flume
Q=Cd

(H+

)]n

And to obtain the values of Cd, and n

Where,
Q is discharge

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FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

Cd is the discharge coefficient
b the throat width
g the gravitational pull
H the head of flow
V the velocity
n = 3/2
APPARATUS
Stop watch, vernier callipers, venture flumes in channels, pumps
METHOD
The pump was started filling the channel tank to overflow the gate.
This was to ensure steady and uniform flow conditions were created.
The bottom of the channel was then read using the vernier scale installed in the machine
and recorded as the datum, z.
The gate was raised to a maximum allowing maximum height of flow in channel and the
height of water surface in channel before the flume recorded as h1.
Volume collected and time taken was recorded to determine discharge.
This was repeated for 9 levels of the gate valve (hence 9 normal depths of flow.)
The width of channel, b, before the flume and after the flume were measured using the
vernier callippers and the diameter of discharge tank measured using the tape measure.
RESULTS
FLUME 1
Widths of channel, b1 and b2=6.370 cm and 6.424 cm respectively.
Average width of channel =
Diameter of discharge tank =38.60 cm
DATUM: bottom of channel=5.80 cm

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6.397 cm

FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

initial height, h1

Time, sec

6.5
10
9.75
8.9
8.4
9.2
8.8
8.3

9.69
9.1
7.95
10.26
13.58
15.21
13.22
14.34

y(depth)=
s -5.8(datum)
0.10412
0.09708
0.09
0.07824
0.0715
0.06408
0.06231
0.05839

height in tank,cm
19.7
16.1
10.29
12.9
14.6
13.7
11.5
11.2

ANALYSIS AND COMPUTATION OF DATA

Time, s

y(depth)=
s-5.8

9.69

0.10412

9.1
7.95
10.26
13.58
15.21
13.22
14.34

0.09708
0.09

height
in
tank,
cm
19.7
16.1
10.29

0.07824
0.0715
0.06408
0.06231
0.05839

12.9
14.6
13.7
11.5
11.2

volume,
cm3

Q=
Vo l/time
m3/s

velocity,v,
m/s

V2/2g

y+v2/2g

log q

23053.18 0.237906877 2.033023736 0.210662 0.314782 0.62359

18840.41 0.207037508 1.769230769 0.15954 0.25662 0.68395
12041.48 0.151465176 1.294339623 0.085388 0.175388 0.81969
15095.73 0.147131918 1.257309942 0.080572 0.158812 0.83229
17085.1 0.125810716 1.075110457 0.058912 0.130412 0.90028
16031.9 0.105403711 0.900723208 0.041351 0.105431 0.97714
13457.44 0.101796051 0.8698941
0.038569 0.100879 0.99227
13106.37 0.091397311 0.781032078 0.031091 0.089481 1.03907

GRAPH OF LOG Q AGAINST LOG 2/3 (H+V2/2g)

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Log
(2/3(y+v2/2g)

-0.6780816
-0.7668005
-0.9320911
-0.9752072
-1.0607722
-1.1531238
-1.1722923
-1.224359

FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

0
-1.2

-1

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0
-0.2

-0.4

log Q

-0.6

-0.8

-1

-1.2

log 2/3(H+v2/2g)

From the graph,

Equation of line
Y=1.3225x-1.0401
Log Q= n log(2/3(H+v2 /g))+log Cdbt
Comparing it to
Y= mx+ c
n=1.3225
log bt Cd =-1.1401
bt=3.276 cm
Cd =0.8887

FLUME 2 EXPERIMENT

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-1.4

FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

Dia of tank = 0.389m
Datum =5.52 cm
TIME, t

Surface Depth
height of flow
s

Tank
initial
h1

tank
final
h2

Head h of
water

9.88
7.34
7.91
7.42
9.82
8.41
8.20
7.06
6.20

15.54
15.02
14.54
14.1
13.515
13.05
12.4
11.931
10.21

6.1
8.3
9.2
8.8
7.2
7.6
7.8
9.8
8.4

24.5
21.3
21.8
20.4
20.3
18.2
16.8
16.8
12

0.184
0.130
0.126
0.116
0.131
0.106
0.090
0.070
0.036

0.100
0.095
0.090
0.086
0.080
0.075
0.069
0.064
0.047

ANALYSIS OF DATA FOR FLUME

Head =h2h1
0.184
0.130
0.126
0.116
0.131
0.106
0.090
0.070
0.036

Vol =
/4
0.02187
0.01545
0.01497
0.01379
0.01557
0.01260
0.01070
0.00832
0.00428

T in
seconds
9.88
7.34
7.91
7.42
9.82
8.41
8.20
7.06
6.20

Q
0.0022
0.0021
0.0019
0.0019
0.0016
0.0015
0.0013
0.0012
0.0007

V= Q/A
m/s
0.3440
0.3451
0.3269
0.3373
0.3088
0.3098
0.2953
0.2863
0.2292

GRAPH OF LOG Q AGAINST LOG 2/3 (H+V2/2g)

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H+V2/2g

Log Q

0.1062
0.1011
0.0956
0.0916
0.0848
0.0802
0.0732
0.0683
0.0496

-2.65495
-2.67676
-2.72282
-2.73096
-2.79985
-2.8245
-2.88458
-2.92872
-3.1611

log
2/3 (H+V2/2g)
-1.14984
-1.17147
-1.19543
-1.21421
-1.24764
-1.27196
-1.31132
-1.34176
-1.48082

FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

-2.6
-1.7

-1.2

-0.7

-0.2

0.3

-2.7

log Q

-2.8

-2.9

-3

-3.1

Log 2/3(H+v2/2g)

Q = Cdbt . ( (H+ )n
Log Q= log Cdbt + n Log(. ( (H+ )n
From the graph, n is the gradient = 1.528
Log Cdbt

= -0.8866,

y intercept

Cdbt =0.1228
bt = 3.394 cm the throat width.

Solving for Cd = 0.913

DISCUSSION

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-3.2

0.8

FLUID MECHANICS LABS 2013/2014

In this experiment the friction coefficients for the two flumes were compared.
The coefficient of discharge of each flume differs from the other and can only be
determined experimentally.
This coefficient must be multiplied with the theoretical ideal flow to get the actual discharge
of the flume.
Errors in the experiments could have resulted from erroneous recording of time and water
heights, surface depths of flow.
These were reduced by allowing more time before collecting discharge, using vernier to
measure surface heights and drawing of a line of best fit in the graph.
The theoretical value of n should be 3/2 or 1.5 compared to 1.4 and 1.51 got In the
experiment.
CONCLUSION
The expression

Q=Cd

(H+

) ] 3/2

Was confirmed true for actual flume discharge.

The value of n were found to be 1.3 and 1.5 for the two flumes respectively with their values
of Cd being 0.88 and 0.91.

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