The measurement of discharge using a commercial digital video camera in irrigation canals

This paper presents measurements of the discharge by image techniques on the surface velocity field and water stage in irrigation canals. The velocity and stage gauge are obtained from a commercial digital video camera. The time series of the surface velocity and stage were collected simultaneously. Particle image velocimetry (PIV) was used to determine the surface velocities in the irrigation canal. PIV proceeds by using bubbles floating on the water surface as tracer particles, and making a cross-correlation analysis between two continuous images. The whole surface velocity distribution in the irrigation canals can be obtained. The water stage of the canal is obtained from the digital video camera images by making use of image segments to separate the stage gauge and the background. The discharge is computed by using the surface velocities and water stage via open channel velocity distribution theory. Comparing the discharge measured using image techniques with Parshall flume data shows that the differences are less then 5%. The results suggest that the image measurement techniques developed can be used in applications to estimate the discharge in irrigation canals effectively.