Flow monitoring technology in water engineering

This course concerns as well hydrometry as the science and technologies used for quantitative measurement and monitoring of hydraulic quantities in natural and constructed/human made flows. Such flow measurements are essential for hydrologic sciences and for sustainable management of water resources and natural hazards.
Flow measurement technologies applied in modern laboratory experiments (for process oriented fluid mechanics studies) and in field experiments (for river monitoring purposes) will be explained in terms of measurement principle, method, capability, performance (resolution, accuracy, uncertainty) and limitations. The chapters of the lecture are organized in type of measured quantity after a first introduction chapter reminding the required theoretical notions in hydrodynamics, turbulence and boundary layer flows, signal theory and signal processing. Chapter 2 presents flow velocimetry including existing hydroacoustic and optical technologies. Chapter 3 addresses river discharge monitoring for water resources management, network surveillance and flood risk mitigation. Chapter 4 concerns sediment transport measurements and corresponding instrumentation for laboratory and field experiments. Chapter 5 explains measurement of hydraulic bulk flow quantities as flow depth, the bed slope, the free-surface slope, the flow bathymetry. A practical lab session will be accomplished by the students on an experimental facility of the EPFL hydraulic platform, nearby river or lake.
Contenu

• Introduction (Flow conservation equations, RANS equations, Exner equation, boundary layer flow properties, turbulence, basic signal theory & processing notions, digital twins of fluid flow infrastructure,  )

• High resolution flow measurement tools (Doppler Effect, Image correlation based, transit time, ADV, ADCP, UDV, ADVP, LDA, LDV, PIV, PTV)

• River discharge monitoring (velocity-index method, transit-time, gauging methods with Doppler radars, Large-scale PIV, ADCP gauging)

• Sediment transport measurements (Grain size distribution, Suspended load, bedload, Sediment flux)

• Hydraulic bulk flow quantity measurement (Water Depth and pressure, Water surface slope, bed slope, bed shear stress, bathymetry, bedforms), both stationary and transient

• Stream temperature and heat flow patterns via invasive and non-invasive sensors

• Heat-exchange sensors for vegetation sap flow activity