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Manly Hydraulics Laboratory

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Application of Acoustic Doppler Current Meters
to Flood Monitoring

A new style of current meter from Sontek in the USA has been deployed at Kempsey. The instrument uses doppler shift technology to measure current velocities in river situations. The ADCm looks sideways from a bridge pile into the water flow and returns the velocity over a layer of water in line with the instrument.  It is possible to program the ADCm to look at only the currents that are not affected by the bridge structure and in this case MHL has chosen to sample from between 2 and 10 metres away from the bridge pile. Water level and water temperatures are collected as well.

Current meter operation
ADCm Current Meter Operation

The data from the ADCm are stored within the instrument and three times a week (or more frequently if required) the data are downloaded to MHL. A power supply, a telephone and a modem are housed on the bank of the river. The test data from the site can now be viewed.

ADCm Instrument Site Panorama
A view of the Sontek ADCm. A general view of the installation location at Pacific Hwy. Bridge at Kempsey

Closer View of Bridge Site Access Preparation
A closer view of the Pacific Hwy. Bridge at Kempsey. Experienced field operator gearing up to do some abseiling

Abseiling to the Bridge Peir Detail of assembly
Experienced field operator doing some abseiling A view of the conduit leading from the instrument (below water)

Nearing Completion
Installation near completion.

 

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