Computing Discharge in Real Time using the Q-Track Automated Continuous Discharge Measurement System

The Central Midwest Water Science Center has developed, installed, and operated an automatic system for computing discharge. The Q-Track system, as it is known, consists of a TRDI acoustic Doppler velocity meter (ADVM) attached to a carriage that traverses vertically on a track assembly on the side of the canal. The system is controlled by a data logger and computes discharge in real time. The Q-Track system is installed at a site that is the subject of much litigation and for which the discharge is very unsteady. The Q-Track system is being evaluated as an alternative to 'standard' approaches used by the USGS to compute continuous discharge records at this location. This talk will present the results of an evaluation of two methods for computing real-time discharge using the Q-Track system, the mid-section method and the horizontal slice method. The methods for computing discharge will be presented, along with the assumptions and limitations inherent in the method. The discharges computed using Q-Track are compared to the “official” discharge record at the site, which makes use of the index-velocity method.

Presented by:

Kevin Oberg
USGS

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