Stage measurements are made by the South Florida Water Management District (SFWMD) or the USGS at the east coast structures. The flows through the coastal structures in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties can be computed by developing stage-discharge ratings from field measurements of flow, stage, and structure operations. Although theoretical ratings exist for the structures, no check as to the accuracy of these ratings has been made. In order to develop ratings from field measurements, discharge measurements must be made at the structure simultaneously with water level and structure operation measurements. Difficulties in making accurate discharge measurements arise from the slow flows and non-standard velocity profiles in south Florida canals. The Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP), which uses the Doppler shift in acoustic signals to determine water velocity and compute discharge, is ideal for measurements in slow and spatially varying velocity fields. Statistical techniques were used to determine the best-fit ratings for the structures and error analysis of the ratings.
The objective of this study was to determine discharge ratings for 10 coastal hydraulic control structures (7 in eastern Broward and 3 in southeastern Palm Beach counties as well as for 16 coastal hydraulic control structures in eastern Miami-Dade county.
Appendix I of WRIR 97-4079 lists data for flood discharge characteristics for the (Miami-)Dade County coastal structures. The data include structure, discharge rate in cubic feet/second, headwater elevation in feet, tailwater elevation in feet and flow regime for Design and Special Project Flood. Appendix II lists structural data for the coastal control structures including structure number, weir crest (net length in feet, and elevation in feet below land surface), service bridge elevation in feet, water-surface elevation in feet, number and type of gates, and size of gates in feet for diameter or height by width, number of barrels, size of barrels in inches, and length of barrels in feet.
Determining discharge-coefficient ratings for coastal structures in Dade County, Florida, 1997, Swain, E.D.; Kapadia, Amit; Kone, Siaka; and others, U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4079
U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey
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