Presented by

Dr. Tarek M. Salaheldin

Irrigation & Hydraulics Department


March 18, 2006
Acoustic Doppler
Velocimeter ADV
CAIRO UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
HyFILM HEEPF Project
General Description

ADV Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter

Used for Velocity Measurements (shallow water
operations).

More accurate than current meters, less
sophisticated, cheaper than LDV.

3-D velocity measurements u,v,w (V
x
, V
y,
V
z
)

Minimum disturbance to the flow (since the
volume of the Doppler is small and the sampling .

Able to capture fine-scale turbulence details
(adjustable in the velocity acquisition software)

High Frequency Cable
High Frequency Cable
ADV-Lab processor
connection
Acoustic
Sensor
Signal Conditioning
Module
Stem
Main components of the Micro ADV-lab


Receiver
Transmitter
Receiver
Receiver
Stem
The Acoustic Sensor
Main components of the Micro-ADV lab
General Description (Cont.)

The acoustic sensor consists of three acoustic receivers
(for 3-D probe) and one acoustic transmitter.

The pulses emitted from the transmitter are scattered by
the water particles and the receivers receive the reflected
echoes. The Doppler shifts of the reflected echoes are
calculated and the three velocity components are
calculated from these Doppler shifts.

The data is transmitted from the Signal Conditioning
Module (SCM) to the Micro-ADV-Lab processor (installed
in a desktop PC that operates the data acquisition
software supported by a DOS or Win operating system)
through a flexible High-Frequency Cable with an
underwater Mateable connector.

General Description (Cont.)
Additional sensors for pressure and temperature. It can
detect the bottom boundary if close enough (25-30 cm).

The receivers are numbered so that when looking from
the sampling volume towards the acoustic transmitter,
the receivers are numbered as 1, 2, and 3 in the clockwise
direction starting from receiver 1.

The positive X- axis is defined by the direction from the
transmitter to the acoustic receiver 1 (the direction of the
arm holding receiver 1) which is marked red.

For the 3-D down-looking probe, the positive Z-axis is
defined vertically upward from the transmitter towards
the SCM. The positive Y-axis is defined according to the
right-hand coordinate system.

F
l
o
w
X
Y
Z

ADV
Sign convention for the down-
looking Micro-ADV probe


X
Y
Z
Flow
The X-axis is always parallel to longitudinal direction of
the flume (the main flow direction in the flume).

Point
Gauge
ADV
Transmitter
Receiver Receiver
Sampling
Volume
5.0 cm
Point
Gauge
ADV
Transmitter
Receiver Receiver
Sampling
Volume
5.0 cm

Setup of the point gauge
and the Micro-ADV probe
Sampling
Volume
Down-Looking Side-Looking upward-Looking
General Description (Cont.)
The acoustic sensor can be oriented looking downward,
sideward (on 90o) adopter, or upward with a bent stem
and 90 adopter.
Schematic diagrams showing the different setups for the Micro-ADV
For the 10 MHz Micro-ADV probe, the sampling volume is cylindrical in
shape with approximate dimensions of 6mm in diameter, 4mm in
height and approximate volume from 0.10 to 0.15 cm3.

The center of the sampling volume is located approximately 5 cm
below the acoustic transmitter so that the ADV measures the
undisturbed flow.

The Micro-ADV probe is suitable for studying of boundary layers and
the estimation of turbulence parameters such as Reynolds stresses.

A problem usually occurs when sampling velocity data is near the
boundary and when sampling volume includes the boundary. In this
situation, the ADV will measure the Doppler shift due to reflection
from the boundary and not from the particles of water. This situation
can be recognized when the recorded velocity is zero, as the recorded
velocity will be that of the stationary boundary.

Under good operating condition, the sampling volume can be placed
within 1mm from the boundary (SonTek 1997).
Sampling Volume
Velocity Measurements
can be recorded with different frequencies ranging
from 0.1 to 25 Hz and can be adjusted in the data
acquisition software.

The available velocity ranges for the 10 MHz Micro-
ADV-Lab probe used are 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100,
200, and 300 cm/s.

During data recording, the velocity range is set to be
slightly larger than the maximum expected velocity
for the flow because higher velocity ranges may have
higher data noise levels.
Velocity Measurements
Noise or random variation is expected in the ADV velocity
measurements. Under good operation condition, the noise
should be about 1 % of the velocity range setting (SonTek
1997).

The variations of the velocity are combination of the
instrument noise and the real variation of the flow due to
turbulence.

The instrument noise or the Doppler noise is due to the
sensor electronic circuitry and it is purely random and
assumed to follow Gaussian distribution. Other errors may
also exist due to the vertical and horizontal alignment of
the probe
Velocity Measurements
The signal to noise ratio (SNR) should be greater than 5 to 10
dB for good measurements (Good operation condition the SNR
ranges from 15 to 30 dB).

The signal amplitude or signal strength is a measure of the
intensity of the reflected acoustic signal and is measured in
counts, where one count equals 0.43dB.

The accuracy of the probe is expected to be 1 % of the
measured velocity or the velocity range setting (SonTek 1997).

The correlation of the data is a direct measure of the quality of
the AVD velocity measurements. The correlation is expected to
be around 90 % for moderate flow with low turbulence. In
general, correlation above 70 % is desired and acceptable for
good velocity measurements.
Sampling Time and Frequency

The reliability of turbulence measurements depends on
the sampling frequency and sampling time.

Sampling time is defined as the period of time (seconds or
minutes) in which the velocity is recoded at each of the
measurement locations.

Sampling frequency is the number of velocity readings to
be recorded at each second at the measured point.

Discrepancies in velocity measurements with low
frequency are attributed to the inadequate recording time
and the discrepancies with high frequency due to the
spatial averaging by the sensor.

The spatial averaging by the sensor is considered
insignificant with respect to the mean flow turbulence.
Sampling Time and Frequency

In some experiments, sampling time was approximately 6
minutes as the sampling time to estimate the mean
velocity.

There is a limited guidance in the literature to choose the
sampling time, and sampling frequency since they depend
on the type and nature of the stream or open channel.

Preliminary investigation is required to choose the
appropriate sampling time and sampling frequency.

Velocity measurements should be taken near the bottom
and in the main body of the flow for the same flow
conditions (for example 0.02d and 0.7d where d is the
flow depth) and using different sampling time ranging
from 0.5 to 25 minutes.
Sampling Time
Effect of changing the sampling time on the velocity
components u, v, and w and on the turbulence parameters
w'w', u'w' and TKE where u', v', and w' are fluctuations of
u, v and w respectively and the TKE is the total kinetic
energy defined below
Sampling Time (min)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
(
m
/
s
)
0 10 20
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
u
v
w

Sampling Time (min)
T
i
m
e
-
a
v
e
r
a
g
e
d
T
u
r
b
u
l
e
n
c
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
s
0 10 20
0
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
0.0006
0.0007
(w'w')
(u'w')
(TKE)

at point in the main body of flow (0.7 d)
Sampling Time (min)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
(
m
/
s
)
10 20 30
-0.005
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03
u
v
w

Sampling Time (min)
T
i
m
e
-
a
v
e
r
a
g
e
d
T
u
r
b
u
l
e
n
c
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
s
0 10 20 30
0.0000
0.0001
0.0002
(w'w')
(u'w')
(TKE)

at point near the bottom (0.02 d)
Changing the sampling time has a small effect on the time-averaged
values of the velocity components, as well as the calculated second
moment statistics (variance and covariance) used to estimate
Reynolds stresses.
Sampling Frequency
No general guidance in the literature for choosing the
sampling frequency, preliminary investigation is required.

Velocity measurements at the same points, near the
bottom and in the main body of the flow for the same flow
conditions using different sampling frequency between
0.1 (1 measurement every 10 seconds) to 50 Hz (50
measurements every 1 second).

Changing the sampling frequency has a negligible effect
on the time-averaged velocity components but it has a
large effect on the calculated second moment statistics.

Recording the velocity with small frequency does not
capture the details of the velocity fluctuation, especially
for high turbulence flow field. Therefore, the calculated
second moment statistics (variance and covariance) used
to estimate Reynolds stresses are expected to be small.
Frequency (hz)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
(
m
/
s
)
0 10 20 30 40 50
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
u
v
w
Frequency (Hz)
T
i
m
e
-
a
v
e
r
a
g
e
d
T
u
r
b
u
l
e
n
c
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
s
0 10 20 30 40 50
0.0000
0.0001
0.0002
0.0003
0.0004
0.0005
0.0006
0.0007
0.0008
0.0009
(w'w')
(u'w')
(TKE)
at point in the main body of flow (0.7 d)
Frequency (Hz)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y
(
m
/
s
)
0 10 20 30 40 50
-0.005
0
0.005
0.01
0.015
0.02
0.025
0.03
0.035
u
v
w
Frequency (Hz)
T
i
m
e
-
a
v
e
r
a
g
e
d
T
u
r
b
u
l
e
n
c
e
P
a
r
a
m
e
t
e
r
s
0 10 20 30 40 50
0
1E-05
2E-05
3E-05
4E-05
5E-05
6E-05
7E-05
8E-05
9E-05
0.0001
(w'w')
(u'w')
(TKE)
at point near the bottom (0.02 d)
Sampling Frequency
Increasing the sampling frequency captures more details
of the velocity fluctuations; therefore the calculated
second moments statistics increase.

One of the major problems in the downward-looking
setup of the 3-D ADV-Lab is that it cannot sample velocity
data in the top 5 cm of the flow depth (below the water
surface). This can be remedied by using the up-looking or
side-looking ADV setup. For bed shear stress calculation,
the important velocity measurements are those near the
bottom. Therefore, it is not important for bed shear stress
calculation to sample velocity data near the water surface
and the measurements from the bottom to 5 cm below
the water surface should be sufficient for bed shear stress
calculation.
Samples of Velocity Measurements
Velocity Components
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
0 5 10 15 20
Time (sec)
V
e
l
o
c
i
t
y

(
c
m
/
s
e
c
)
U
V
W
Shear Stress Calculation
Logarithmic Profile Method
B
zu
k u
u
A +
|
.
|

\
|
=
u
*
*
ln
1
2
*
u = t
*
*
B
D
z
ln
k
1
u
u U
+
|
.
|

\
|
=

x
D
z
0 s s
2
*
D
z
1 C
u
u U
|
.
|

\
|
=

1
D
z
x s s
U is the maximum local velocity in the vertical distribution, D is the
water depth and B* is a correction factor. x = 0.284 and C = 6.15
were given by Engel and Krishnappan (1985). The value of B* is very
close to zero when x = 0.284, and therefore it can be neglected
n
1
*
D
z
k
n
u
u
|
.
|

\
|
=
Shear Stress Calculation
Power Profile Method
where n is a constant that depend on the shape of the
velocity distribution. Several values of n were suggested
in the literature (n = 4 or 6 or 7 or 10) based on
experimental data and similarity solutions (Raudkivi
1990).
Shear Stress Calculation
Variance and Covariance
The second moment statistics terms of the velocity fluctuations
2
u'
,
2
v'
,
2
w'
are
the local mean variance and the terms w u
' '
, v u
' '
, w v
' '
are local mean covariance
The instantaneous velocity in X, Y, and Z
directions are u, v, and w respectively.
The instantaneous values of the random
fluctuations terms u', v' and w' are
developed from the Reynolds averaging
(time-averaging) of the instantaneous
velocity.

'
+ =
'
+ =
'
+ =
w w w
v v v
u u u
Covariance Method (COV)
In the Reynolds-averaged equations, Prandtl (1925)
considered the turbulent inertia terms as if they were
stresses (Pope 2000, Schilichting 1978, and White 1991).
The turbulent inertia terms can be written as follows in
the tensor notation


Turbulent
i i
ar min La
i
j
j
i
ij
u u
x
u
x
u
' '

|
|
.
|

\
|
c
c
+
c
c
= t
Shear Stress Calculation
Covariance Method (COV)
The first term represents the laminar stresses and the
second term represents the turbulent stresses. In fully
turbulent flow, the laminar stresses can be neglected. The
terms oii are considered as the normal stresses and the
terms tij are considered as the shear stresses.











Figure 3.11 Schematic diagram showing Reynolds stresses
X
Y
Z
o
XX

t
XY
o
YY

o
ZZ

t
XY
t
YZ

t
XZ
t
YZ

t
XZ

\
|
t
t
o
xz
xy
xx

yz
yy
xy
t
o
t

\
|
' '
' '
'
=
|
|
|
.
|
o
t
t
w u
v u
u
2
zz
yz
xz

w v
v
v u
2
' '
'
' '

|
|
|
|
.
|
'
' '
' '
2
w
w v
w u

Shear Stress Calculation
Covariance Method (COV)
COV is considered to give unbiased estimates of t
among the methods available to estimate t from
velocity measurements.

Equation successfully estimates t in the case of
unidirectional flow in which t
YZ
is negligible with
respect to t
XZ
since the shear stress is generated
mainly in the main direction of the flow.
) w u ( u
2
*
' '
= = t
YZ XZ total
t + t = t

( ) ( )
2 2
total
w v w u
' '
+
' '
= t

In the case of strong three-dimensional flow, tYZ

has considerable value as there is significant
value of the velocity component v in the Y
direction.
Shear Stress Calculation
Covariance Method (COV)
Shear Stress Calculation
Turbulent Kinetic Energy Method (TKE)
The turbulent kinetic energy TKE at a point in the
flow field can be defined through the mean local
variances. The bottom shear stress is related to the
TKE through a linear relationship.
( )
2 2 2
5 . 0 w v u TKE
'
+
'
+
'
=
) TKE .( C
1
= t
Stapleton and Huntley (1995) found the proportionality constant, C1,
to be approximately equal to 0.19
Shear Stress Calculation
Variance Method (Var)
Kim et al. (2000) suggested that t can be calculated from
the near-bed variance component, such as
) .(
2
2
w C
'
= t
The TKE method is still new and needs more research to
establish the value of the proportionality constants (Kim
et al. 2000).
Samples of Calculation
of Variance and
Covariance and TKE