Page:EB1911 - Volume 14.djvu/66

Rh first be set accurately level with the weir crest, and a reading taken. Then the difference of the reading at the water surface and that for the weir crest will be the head at the weir.

§ 56. Modules used in Irrigation.—In distributing water for irrigation, the charge for the water may be simply assessed on the area of the land irrigated for each consumer, a method followed in India; or a regulated quantity of water may be given to each consumer, and the charge may be made proportional to the quantity of water supplied, a method employed for a long time in Italy and other parts of Europe. To deliver a regulated quantity of water from the irrigation channel, arrangements termed modules are used. These are constructions intended to maintain a constant or approximately constant head above an orifice of fixed size, or to regulate the size of the orifice so as to give a constant discharge, notwithstanding the variation of level in the irrigating channel.

§ 57. Italian Module.—The Italian modules are masonry constructions, consisting of a regulating chamber, to which water is admitted by an adjustable sluice from the canal. At the other end of the chamber is an orifice in a thin flagstone of fixed size. By means of the adjustable sluice a tolerably constant head above the fixed orifice is maintained, and therefore there is a nearly constant discharge of ascertainable amount through the orifice, into the channel leading to the fields which are to be irrigated.

In fig. 69, A is the adjustable sluice by which water is admitted to the regulating chamber, B is the fixed orifice through which the water is discharged. The sluice A is adjusted from time to time by the canal officers, so as to bring the level of the water in the regulating chamber to a fixed level marked on the wall of the chamber. When adjusted it is locked. Let 1 be the area of the orifice through the sluice at A, and 2 that of the fixed orifice at B; let h1 be the difference of level between the surface of the water in the canal and regulating chamber; h2 the head above the centre of the discharging orifice, when the sluice has been adjusted and the flow has become steady; Q the normal discharge in cubic feet per second. Then, since the flow through the orifices at A and B is the same,

Q = c11 √(2gh1) = c22 √(2gh2),

where c1 and c2 are the coefficients of discharge suitable for the two orifices. Hence

c11 / c22 = √(h 2/h1).

If the orifice at B opened directly into the canal without any intermediate regulating chamber, the discharge would increase for a given change of level in the canal in exactly the same ratio. Consequently the Italian module in no way moderates the fluctuations of discharge, except so far as it affords means of easy adjustment from time to time. It has further the advantage that the cultivator, by observing the level of the water in the chamber, can always see whether or not he is receiving the proper quantity of water.

On each canal the orifices are of the same height, and intended to work with the same normal head, the width of the orifices being varied to suit the demand for water. The unit of discharge varies on different canals, being fixed in each case by legal arrangements. Thus on the Canal Lodi the unit of discharge or one module of water is the discharge through an orifice 1.12 ft. high, 0.12416 ft. wide, with a head of 0.32 ft. above the top edge of the orifice, or .88 ft. above the centre. This corresponds to a discharge of about 0.6165 cub. ft. per second.

In the most elaborate Italian modules the regulating chamber is arched over, and its dimensions are very exactly prescribed. Thus in the modules of the Naviglio Grande of Milan, shown in fig. 70, the measuring orifice is cut in a thin stone slab, and so placed that the discharge is into the air with free contraction on all sides. The adjusting sluice is placed with its sill flush with the bottom of the canal, and is provided with a rack and lever and locking arrangement. The covered regulating chamber is about 20 ft. long, with a breadth 1.64 ft. greater than that of the discharging orifice. At precisely the normal level of the water in the regulating chamber, there is a ceiling of planks intended to still the agitation of the water. A block of stone serves to indicate the normal level of the water in the chamber. The water is discharged into an open channel 0.655 ft. wider than the orifice, splaying out till it is 1.637 ft. wider than the orifice, and about 18 ft. in length.

§ 58. Spanish Module.—On the canal of Isabella II., which supplies water to Madrid, a module much more perfect in principle than the Italian module is employed. Part of the water is supplied for irrigation, and as it is very valuable its strict measurement is essential. The module (fig. 72) consists of two chambers one above the other, the upper chamber being in free communication with the irrigation canal, and the lower chamber discharging by a culvert to the fields. In the arched roof between the chambers there is a circular sharp-edged orifice in a bronze plate. Hanging in this there is a bronze plug of variable diameter suspended from a hollow brass float. If the water level in the canal lowers, the plug descends and gives an enlarged opening, and conversely. Thus a perfectly constant discharge with a varying head can be obtained, provided no clogging or silting of the chambers prevents the free discharge of the water or the rise and fall of the float. The theory of the module is very simple. Let R (fig. 71) be the radius of the fixed opening, r the radius of the plug at a distance h from the plane of flotation of the float, and Q the required discharge of the module. Then

Q = c (R2 − r&#8202;2) √(2gh).

Taking c = 0.63,

Q = 15.88 (R2 − r&#8202;2) √h;

r = √ {R2 − Q/15.88 √h}.

Choosing a value for R, successive values of r can be found for different values of h, and from these the curve of the plug can be drawn. The module shown in fig. 72 will discharge 1 cubic metre per second. The fixed opening is 0.2 metre diameter, and the greatest head above the fixed orifice is 1 metre. The use of this module involves a great sacrifice of level between the canal and the fields. The module is described in Sir C. Scott-Moncrieff’s Irrigation in Southern Europe.

§ 59. Reservoir Gauging Basins.—In obtaining the power to store the water of streams in reservoirs, it is usual to concede to riparian