Determining Discharge -- Page 17 of 25



Page 17 of 25

Determining a stream's depth, width, velocity and discharge: For this stream the average velocity is the same (provided the depth is the same) no matter what position on the tape it is measured. Answer the questions below.

1. What is the maximum depth of water in this hypothetical stream?	meters
2. At what actual depth should the velocity sensor be set to record the average velocity? ( Remember that the average velocity is best measured at 6/10^th's of the total depth.)	m
3. What is the average velocity of this stream, as measured by the virtual stadia rod and velocity sensor?	m/sec
4. What is the distance on the tape of the left edge of stream? (Note that the edge of the stream is NOT at "0.0" on the tape.)	m
5. What is the distance on the tape of the right edge of the stream?	m
6. Compute the width of the stream. (This is the difference between the right and left sides.)	m
7. Discharge is computed as the volume of water in the stream passing by in one second. DISCHARGE = DEPTH times WIDTH times AVERAGE VELOCITY. (Keep in mind that for this very simplistic stream the velocity at a fixed depth is constant from side to side. Water velocity in a real stream varies not only with depth, but from side to side.) What is the discharge of this stream? (Calculate to TWO decimal places in cubic meters per second)	cu m / sec