CONTENT PAGE NUMBER

1. Abstract
1

2. Introduction

2.1 Principle of V-notch

2.2 Application of V-notch

2-5
2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages
of V-notch

3. Result and Discussion

6-9

4. Conclusion and
Recommendation
10

5. References

11

Appendices:
Appendix 1: Sample Calculations
Appendix 2: Full Observation Table 12 - 13

TABLE OF CONTENT
 1.0 ABSTRACT

The experiment of V-Notch is conducted to determine the coefficient of

discharge, Cd of a V-Notch and to understand the concept of Bernuolli’s
equation. The flow rate of the water is set by assuming the flow of water using
a stilling baffle from high velocity, medium velocity and slow velocity. The
magnitude of the pressure can be related to the volumetric flow rate. The
actual discharge (Qa) is calculated after taking down the time when the
volume of water 0.012 m 3 is collected. The hook gauge was used to measure
the level above the notch in meters to calculate the theoretical discharge (Q t).
The coefficient of discharge of V-Notch is then can be calculated. The average
coefficient discharge is 0.60.

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 2.0 INTRODUCTION

2.1 Principle of V-Notch

In this experiment, the most important apparatus is V-Notch. A v notch or
weir is simply a ‘v notch’ in a plate that is placed so that it obstructs an open
channel flow, causing the water to flow over the v notch. It is used to meter
flow of water in the channel, by measuring the head of water over the v notch
crest. The v notch weir is especially good for measuring a low flow rate,
because the flow area decreases rapidly as the head over the v notch gets
small (Barger, V. and Olsson, M, 1973). V-notch is used in small channels and
V-weir is used in large channels. There got another notch as rectangular
notch which is in rectangular shape. But many cases triangular notch is used
over rectangular notch this is because of the expression for discharge for a
right angle V-notch or weir is very simple. Ventilation of triangular notch is not
necessary. Triangular notch will provide more precise results during
measuring low discharge as compare to result obtained from rectangular
notch. Only one reading of H will be required for determination of discharge in
case of triangular notch.

Figure 2.1 Flow Over a Sharp Crested Weir

The weir crest is the top of the weir. For a v notch weir it is the point of the
notch, which is the lowest point of the weir opening. The term nappe is used
for the sheet of water flowing over the weir. The equations to meter flow in this
article require free flow, which takes place when there is air under the nappe.

2
The drawdown is the decrease in water level going over the weir due to the
acceleration of the water. The head over the weir is shown as H in the
diagram; the height of the weir crest is shown as P; and the open channel flow
rate or discharge is shown as Q (Bengtson, Harlan H, 2001).
For calculations according to experiment,

Theoretical discharge, Qt =
(2.1.1)

where QT = Theoretical discharge of v-notch(m3/s)

g = Gravitational acceleration (m/s2)
H = height of water level above notch (m)
= 90° (notch angle)

After getting the theoretical discharge, the actual discharge should be

calculated , thus the coefficient of discharge can be found in different rate flow
of fluid. The actual discharge is calculated by the formula 2.1.2:

(2.1.2)

where Qa = Actual discharge of V-Notch (m3/s)

V = Volume of the fluid collected (m3)
t = Time taken to collect the fluid (s)

Finally, the coefficient of discharge of the v-notch is calculated by formula

:

(2.1.3)

where Cd = Coefficient of discharge of V-Notch

QA = Actual discharge of V-Notch (m3/s)
QT = Theoretical discharge of V-Notch (m3/s)
2.2 Application of Triangular V-Notch

3
 Triangular V-Notch has many applications in industry wise. The soil
instruments V-notch weir uses the principle of gravitational discharge of water
over a triangular notched weir plate. Discharge is a function of the head of
water at the notch, for a given profile size and shape. Experimentally
determined coefficients relate the head of water to the rate of discharge.
Simple in principle the v notch weir is a low cost and robust instrument idealy
suited to the long dams. Water flow monitoring in open channels is widely
employed in environmental and geotechnical field. V-Notch helps in
measuring the leakage measurement which is one of the most important
indicator of the overall performance of earth or rock-fill and concrete dam. The
leakage rate is a function of the water level in the reservoir and depends
either of the construction and of the behaviour of the dam. Consequently,
leakage monitoring provides data for the evaluation of the long term stability
of the dam constructions. Leakage water is usually impounded downstream of
the dam and diverted to a basin in a weir-station. It is also used in drainage
systems in tunnels and excavations (E.Bryan, 2016).

Figure 2.2 V-Notch Weir in dam

2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages of Triangular V-Notch

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 The main advantage of using v-notch is it is The expression for discharge
for a right angle V-notch or weir is very simple. Ventilation of triangular notch
is not necessary. Triangular notch will provide more precise results during
measuring low discharge as compare to result obtained from rectangular
notch. Only one reading of H will be required for determination of discharge in
case of triangular notch. V- notches are easily constructed and well-defined
lab calibration. Moreover, high head-drop required. It is more accuracy at low
flows than rectangular or trapezoidal (Sivaranjith.K. 2018).

The disadvantage of v-notch is it vertex of the notch is not clearly cut and
consequently the zero level is not defined well. Moreover, the crest is not
sharp and the weir is skewed. The central angle is not precise and the edge of
crest is not flat at all. Waves, bubble intrusion and not uniform velocity field in
the measurement profile of V-notch. The crest is placed lower than 5 cm
above the maximum downstream water level (Sivaranjith.K. 2018).

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

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Sl Actual Discharge Theoretical Discharge Cd
No

Collected Time taken Qa = V/t Difference Qt

Volume V t (m3/s) in height of (m3/s)
(m3) (sec) crest
H (m)
1 0.012 14.84 0.0008086 0.0491 0.001262 0.64

2 0.012 20.84 0.0005758 0.0431 0.000911 0.63

3 0.012 29.22 0.0386 0.000692 0.59
0.0004107
4 0.012 34.90 0.0003438 0.0363 0.000593 0.58

5 0.012 42.65 0.0002814 0.0337 0.000493 0.57

Average Cd = 0.60
Table 3.1: Data Sheet of Triangular V-Notch

The table 3.1 shows the result of triangular V-Notch experiment. The flow
rate of the water is set by assuming the flow of water using a stilling baffle
from high velocity, medium velocity and slow velocity was the manipulated
variable. The volume of water collected has been set to constant at 0.012m3.
The actual discharge(Qa), theoretical discharge,(Qt) and coefficient of
discharge,(Cd) are calculated and tabulated in the table 3.1. In the result table,
based on the calculations for Cd values of V-notch, the Cd values gain
decreases as the flow rate decreases. Besides, as the head above bottom
notch increases , the Cd values gain also increases. This shows that, the Cd
values is dependent on the value of flow rate, Q and the value of the head
above the notch, H. the lower the rate flow of water, the lower the actual and
the theoretical discharge of the triangular v-notch. This is because the
different velocity distributions of the fluid enters the stilling baffle lowers the
pressure upon the triangular V-Notch. When the velocity of fluid is higher, the
pressure becomes lower, then this changes make difference in the head
above bottom notch readings. So that, the theoretical discharge is higher in
the high velocity water flow rate.

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 Figure 3.2 The relationship between actual discharge (Qa) and
theoretical discharge (Qt).

A graph (Figure 3.2) of the theoretical discharge, Q t versus actual

discharge, Qa has been plotted based on the result in Table 3.1. In the graph,
a linear line was obtained by using the calculated values. Based on the graph
(Figure 3.2), the actual discharge, Qa is increasing with the theoretical
discharge, Qt. This is because the higher the flow rate of water results in the
higher velocity in the stilling baffle part of water increases the both actual and
theoretical discharge. Point 2 and Point 5 were used to calculate the slope.
The slope value is 0.64. The fourth plot is slightly run out from the line and
has not been intersected. This point may have occurred due to some errors. It
can be neglected due to some errors such as parallax error since this
experiment was carried in a group.

3.3 Discussion

7
 Qa is known as the actual discharge which can obtained from the collected
volume (m3) and the time taken, t (sec) to reach 0.012m 3 volume. Actual
discharge is to determine the water that has to be discharged in the tank. Q t is
known as the theoretical discharge which can be obtained by finding the
difference in height of crest using point gauge. The height of water above the
top the notch is usually used to correlate with flow rate. Q t gives the real time
flow of water into tank due to greater flow rate. The greater the flow rate, the
greater will be the increase in depth of flow. This both Q a (actual discharge)
and Qt (theoretical discharge) readings must to be taken to find the coefficient
of discharge at the end of result.

Qt always higher than Qa. From the result table of this experiment, it is
proved that Qt is always higher than Q a. For example, at 0.0491m height of
water reading, Qa obtained is 0.0008086 m3/s and Qt value is 0.001262 m3/s. It
remained like this for all readings. This is because of the values of the
discharge coefficient increased with increases in the values of the upstream
water depth. The second reason would be the delays depends on the time
needed for closer which put inside valve to close the flow through. The delays
also may occured because of the time needed for the pressure inside stilling
baffle to rise above the pressure needed according to velocity for the opening
of discharge valve. Imperfections in sealing, can lead to leakage whenever
the difference between pressures present and water depth. However, the
leakage is negligible. Leakage through the valve due to small orifice can be
considered laminar (Sestan & Virag, 2014, p.4).

Cd (coefficient discharge) always need to be calculated in all experiments

because it is dimensionless. It is needed to determine the characteristics of
the flow and pressure loss behavior of nozzles, orifices and notches in the
fluid systems.

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 The discharge coefficient of a V-notch is typically 0.5 to 0.65 according to
the width and height of notch. It cannot exceed more than 1.0. If it exceeds
then it means high non-uniformity of velocity distribution. The higher the non-
uniformity of velocity distribution the greater will be values of coefficients.
(Barger, V. and Olsson, M, 1973).

V-Notch and Rectangular Notch have different range of coefficient of

discharge. The basic principle is that discharge is directly related to the water
depth above the crotch (bottom) of the V and this distance is called head (h).
The V-notch design causes small changes in discharge to have a large
change in depth allowing more accurate head measurement than with a
rectangular notch. Triangular notch gives more accuracy when discharge
charge is small.
Rectangular notch less accuracy than triangular notch.

From the table result it is proved that the value of average coefficient
discharge is 0.60 which is between the range from 0.5 to 0.65. From the slope
of the graph, it is confirmed that range of coefficient discharge is 0.64. The
fourth plot is slightly run out from the line and has not been intersected. This is
maybe because of some errors such as parallax error since this experiment
was carried in a group. The parallax error may be due to the difference in the
height of the readings and time take to collect the water which may cause
difference in the calculated value. Both values of coefficient discharge from
the table and from the slope of graph slightly different but do not exceed the
limit and maintained from 0.5 to 0.65.

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 4.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

This experiment is to find out the reading of actual discharge and

theoretical discharge to calculate the coefficient of discharge of V-Notch with
the given formula and this experiment has successfully found out the readings
of actual discharge and theoretical discharge in this experiment. From the
results, it clearly shows that the actual discharge always differs from the
theoretical discharge due to frictional loss, turbulence loss and the upstream
depth of water. As mentioned above, the discharge coefficient of the V-Notch
should be range from 0.50 to 0.65. From the calculations that tabulated in the
table 4.1, the average coefficient of discharge of this V-Notch is 0.60 which
still in the range of it. From the figure 4.1.1, the slope of the gradient
represents the coefficient of discharge which gives the value of 0.64. It has
difference in the both value but both values achieved between the range 0.50
and 0.65 of coefficient discharge.

Parallex error can be avoided by checking the height of water level awhich
should be above the water surface. Last but not least, ensure to drain the
water in volumetric tank to avoid overflow of the water and damage the
experimental setup.

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 REFERENCES

1) Zoebelein, M., How V-Notch work, Endeavor Business Media, LLC, United
States, 2013, p1-p20.

2) Barger, V. and Olsson, M., Classical Mechanics, A Modern Perspective,

McGraw-Hill, 1973, p1-p54.

3) Bengtson, Harlan H. 2001. Open Channel Flow III – Sharp Crested Weirs,
Brighthubengineering.com.vlog.
Available from World Wide Web:
https://www.brighthubengineering.com/hydraulics-civil-engineering/65701-
open-channel-flow-measurement-4-the-v-notch-weir/.

4) E.Bryan. 2016. Journal of Environmental Management Volume 183, Part 3,

Pages 630-636.
Available from World Wide Web:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479716306715?via
%3Dihub.

5) Sivaranjith.K. 2018. Advantages and Disadvantages of V-Notch and Weirs.

AutomationForum.Co. Available from World Wide Web:
https://automationforum.co/advantages-and-disadvantages-of- v-notch-and-
wers/.

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 APPENDIX I
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS (READING NO. _3__)

1. Actual discharge, Qa

Where Volume collected = 0.012 m3

Time taken (t) = 29.22s

Actual discharge = 0.0004107 m3/s

2. Head over notch, H

= 0.0386m

2. Theoretical discharge , Qt
=

8 90  5
= 2  9.81  tan   0.0386 2
15 2

= 0.000692 m3/s

3. Coefficient discharge, Cd
= actual discharge
theoretical discharge

= 0.0004107 m3/s
0.000692 m3/s

= 0.59

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