Current meter methodology for discharge measurement in circular pipe

Abstract

ABSTRACT One of the main methods used for determining the discharge of a high head hydropower plant equipped with a circular penstock is the current meter method. The article presents a simple, but safe way to increase the accuracy of discharge measurement by means of the current meter method based on a new methodology for location velocity measuring points in the measuring section of a circular conduit. The proposed methodology utilizes the interdependence between the admissible interpolation and the radial distribution of the measuring points for diminishing the coincidence error, adopting the interpolation law proposed by Winternitz for this goal, a law that is both simple and whose calculation error is low. At the same time, the new methodology envisages increasing the number of intervals the admissible interpolating function domain is divided into through the measuring point lay out in a circular measuring section along a spiral considering that the interpolation error is inversely proportional to this number of intervals.