Culverts for flow measurement in irrigation systems

Also, discharge ratings for horizontal culverts can be graphically shown on a single plot. Such a plot covers the three flow conditions investigated in this study, which are inlet control, free surface outlet control, and submerged outlet control. The results of this study have clearly shown that culverts can definitely be used as flow measuring structures in irrigation systems. Thus, existing culverts could be utilized for providing discharge measurements. Also, small culverts could be employed as portable flow measuring devices. The assumption is that n1=1.5 was used to simplify the analysis. Further study should be undertaken to remove this assumption from the flow analysis. Then, generalized discharge ratings could be developed for a wide variety of inlet, barrel, and outlet culvert geometrics.