Acoustic Doppler flow-meters: A proposal to characterize their technical parameters

Acoustic Doppler flow-meters are commonly used for continuously measuring flow-rates in sewers. They rely on velocity sensors which provide data supposed to be representative, but not equal, to the mean velocity of the flow. The relationship between a measured value and the actual mean velocity of the flow depends on the volume sampled by the velocity sensor, and on the hydrodynamic features of the measuring site. This paper focuses on the first item, because parameters of sensors are often little detailed in manufacturers’ specification sheets. The principles of testing procedures are outlined, and their implementation in an experimental benchmark is presented, along with the results obtained on a panel of flow-meters.