STUDY ON RIVER-DISCHARGE MEASUREMENTS USING ACOUSTIC DOPPLER CURRENT PROFILERS

Abstract

This paper presents the fundamental performance for measuring river discharge using an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) through field tests conducted in large-scale rivers. For measuring discharge, a down-looking ADCP near the water surface was moved across the river to collect data on the vertical distribution of horizontal velocities and water depth for the entire cross section. We compared water velocities and depths obtained with the ADCP and the lateral position of the ADCP with measurements obtained using conventional techniques and showed that the observed data obtained using the ADCP agreed well with data obtained using conventional methods. Discharge comparisons measured using the ADCP and a Price current meter revealed that the accuracy of the ADCP measurement was relatively lower and higher under conditions of low and high discharge, respectively. Based on these findings, we qualitatively clarified the application of the ADCP to the measurement of river discharge.