Estimating Water Flow Rates EC1369 1994 PDF
Estimating Water Flow Rates EC1369 1994 PDF
Estimating Water Flow Rates EC1369 1994 PDF
Method 1
Discharge from a pipe
If water can freely drop from a pipe, you can
estimate the flow rate by measuring length with
nothing more than a carpenters rule. When the
pipe is flowing full, place the rule as shown in
Figure 1 and measure a horizontal distance when
the vertical drop Y = 13 inches.
Find the proper pipe size in Table 1, and the
discharge is in gallons per minute (gpm). If the
pipe isnt level, use a plumb bob to measure the
vertical drop Y.
Example 1. An 8-inch-diameter pipe is flowing
full, and the horizontal distance X is measured to
be 20 inches. From Table 1, the flow rate is
1,005 gpm.
If the pipe is flowing only partially full, find the
ratio of the unfilled portion of pipe to the diameter
of the pipe to estimate flow rate in gallons per
minute, as shown in Table 2.
Example 2. A 10-inch-diameter pipe is flowing
only partially full. The measured distance U is
2 inches. The ratio U D in Table 2 is 2 10 = 0.2.
The flow rate is 825 gpm.
Table 1.Discharge (gallons per minute) from pipes flowing full, with vertical drop Y = 13" and
variable horizontal distances X.
Pipe size
Inside Area
diam. (sq in)
14
16
18
20
22
24
26
28
30
32
34
36
2.0
3.14
38
44
50
57
63
69
75
82
88
94
100
107
113
2.5
4.91
59
69
79
88
98
108
118
128
137
147
157
167
177
3.0
7.07
85
99
113
127
141
156
170
184
198
212
226
240
255
4.0
12.57
151
176
201
226
251
277
302
327
352
377
402
427
453
5.0
19.64
236
275
314
354
393
432
471
511
550
589
628
668
707
6.0
28.27
339
396
452
509
565
622
678
735
792
848
905
961
1013
7.0
38.48
462
539
616
693
770
847
924
1000
1077
1154
1231
1308
1385
8.0
50.27
603
704
804
905
1005
1106
1206
1307
1408
1508
1609
1709
1810
9.0
63.62
763
891
1018
1145
1272
1400
1527
1654
1781
1909
2036
2163
2290
10.0
78.54
942
1100
1257
1414
1471
1728
1885
2042
2199
2356
2513
2670
2827
11.0
95.03
1140
1330
1520
1711
1901
2091
2281
2471
2661
2851
3041
3231
3421
12.0
113.10
1357
1583
1809
2036
2262
2488
2714
2941
3167
3393
3619
3845
4072
Table 2.An approximate method of estimating discharge from pipes flowing partially full.
Inside diameter of pipe = D in inches
U
D
10
12
0.1
142
334
379
912
1310
0.2
128
302
524
825
1185
0.3
112
264
457
720
1034
0.4
94
222
384
605
868
0.5
75
176
305
480
689
0.6
55
130
226
355
510
0.7
37
88
152
240
345
0.8
21
49
85
134
194
0.9
17
30
52
74
1.0
Method 2
Average cross section
The flow rate in a stream or channel can be
measured as shown in Figure 2 by timing a float.
Measure off a 50- to 100-foot section of the
stream. Flow rate is equal to the cross-sectional
area times the velocity. Multiply the average crosssectional area times the average stream velocity in
fps to get the rate of flow in cfs.
Estimating the cross-sectional area is the hard
part. A simple way to do it is to measure the
bottom width of the channel and the top width,
then average the two. Multiply this average times
the depth of the water.
Measure the widths and depths in fractions of
feet (for example, 1 foot 6 inches = 1.5 feet).
Method 3
Step 1Area
= average width x average depth
=
(10 + 6)
x 3 = 24 ft2
2
Step 2Velocity
= distance divided by time
=
100
= 3 feet per second
33
Pressure
(psi)
3/32
1/8
9/64
5/32
11/64
3/16
13/64
7/32
35
40
45
50
55
2.70
2.90
3.20
3.10
3.30
3.40
3.63
3.84
4.04
4.22
4.16
4.45
4.72
4.98
5.22
5.02
5.37
5.70
6.01
6.30
5.97
6.41
6.81
7.18
7.51
7.08
7.60
8.07
8.49
8.87
8.26
8.87
9.41
9.88
10.30
1.50
1.60
1.70
1.80
1.90
Method 4
Pressure and nozzle size
A way to estimate diversions pumped into a
sprinkler system is to measure the pressure of a
few sprinklers as shown in Figure 4. Find the
nozzle size stamped on the side of the nozzle and
use Table 3 to find the flow rate.
Example 5. The sprinkler in example 4 is
marked as a 316-inch diameter nozzle, and a Pitot
pressure gauge reads 40 psi. From Table 3, the
flow rate is 6.41 gpm. There are 30 sprinklers, so
the total flow rate is 190 gpm.
List of equivalents
1 acre-foot
1 acre-foot
0.001 acre-foot
1 acre-inch
1 acre-inch
1 cubic foot
1 cubic foot
450 gallons/minute
1 gallon/minute
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
325,851 gallons
43,560 cubic feet
325.9 gallons
27,154 gallons
3,360 cubic feet
7.48 gallons
0.0283 cubic meters
1 acre-inch in 1 hour
0.06309 liter/second
Extension Service, Oregon State University, Corvallis, O.E. Smith, director. This publication was
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