Assessment of Wide River Characteristics Using an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

Abstract

An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) was used to measure a wide range of velocity profiles and flow rates within the Red River in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, over 2 years. The river is highly sinuous with approximate sinuosity of 2. Chiu’s entropy-based velocity profile equation was used to find the best fitted curve to the measured data and an M value of 4 was found to be adequate to predict the velocity profile within the Red River in Winnipeg. Moreover, several water samples were collected from the river under different flow rates to investigate a relationship between total suspended solids concentration (CTSS) in the river and measured signal to noise ratio (SNR) by an ADCP. The best fit was an exponential function with R2=0.54.