Notches

A notch may be defined as an opening in one side of a tank or a reservoir, like a large orifice, with the upstream liquid
level below the top edge of the opening

Since the top edge of the notch above the liquid level serves no purpose, therefore a notch may have only the bottom
edge and sides.

The bottom edge, over which the liquid flows, is known as sill or crest of the notch and the sheet of liquid flowing
over a notch (or a weir) is known as nappe or vein. A notch is, usually made of a metallic plate and is used to measure
the discharge of liquids at small scales.

Classifications

According to the shape of opening, notches can be classified as

Stepped notch

Trapezoidal notch

Triangular notch

Rectangular notch

According to the effects of the sides on Nappe (or Vein), notches can be classified as

Notch without end contraction or suppressed notch

Notch with end contraction

V notch

V-notch weir equations have become somewhat standardized. ISO (1980), ASTM (1993), and USBR (1997) all suggest
using the Kindsvater-Shen equation, which is presented below from USBR (1997) for Q in cfs and heights in ft units.
If you compare it to the graphs shown in the references, it looks nearly identical which implies that our fits are very
good

Fig. front and side view of a V-notch

Stepped notch

A stepped notch is a combination of rectangular notches as shown in figure. It is thus obvious that the discharge over
such a notch will be the sum of the discharges over the different rectangular notches.

As we can see here, in following figure, that a stepped notch will be the combination of rectangular notches.
Therefore, discharge through a stepped notch will be considered as the summation of the discharge through different
rectangular notches.

Let us consider that we have a stepped notch as displayed here in following figure.

Fig. front view of a stepped notch

H1, H2 and H3 = Height of water above the crest of notch 1, notch 2 and notch 3 respectively

L1, L2 and L3 = Length of the notch 1, notch 2 and notch 3 respectively

Cd = Coefficient of discharge of all notches

Discharge through the stepped notch = Q1 + Q2 + Q3

V notch

The rectangular notch is the most commonly used thin plate weir. Weirs are typically installed in open channels such
as streams to determine discharge (flowrate). The basic principle is that discharge is directly related to the water
depth (h) in the figure above; h is known as the "head." Rectangular notch can be "suppressed," "partially
contracted," or "fully contracted."

Fig. Front and top view of a rectangular- notch

Equation: -

Trapezoidal Notch

Trapezoidal notch is typically installed in open channels such as streams to determine discharge (flowrate). The basic
principle is that discharge is directly related to the water depth (h) in the figure above; h is known as the "head." The
Trapezoidal (or trapezoidal) weir has side slopes in the vertical to horizontal ratio of 4 to 1

Fig. Trapezoidal notches front and top view

Equations: -

The trapezoidal notch equation is shown below for Q in cfs (ft3/s) and head and length in feet units (USBR, 1997). Our
calculation allows you to work in a variety of units.

Note that L is measured along the bottom of the weir (called the crest), not along the water surface.

Weirs
 Weir is any control or barrier placed in an open channel to permit measurement of water discharge. The latter
may be computed from a formula expressing the discharge in terms of crest length of the weir, depth of flow
above the weir, weir geometry, and other factors.
 Weirs can also be defined as notches which are made by utilizing the masonry and cemetery material to
measure discharge in open channels, at large scale.

Fig. A weir in a river Fig. Side view of a weir

 the bottom edge of the notch in the weir plate is termed the crest.
 Equations for weirs are same as described above for notches, because notches and weirs are the same thing
on the basis of structure, the only difference is in their use and material of which it is built.
 Energy dissipations are considered In weirs.