Convert 1 minute discharge data to 1 hour data

[jdeebaba]

I have one minute discharge data at a dam. The data changes every minute. Its like only some hours in a day there is data and other than that there is zero flow. I want to convert this data to hourly data. How do I change the one minute data to hourly ? Do I add all the flows or average the flows for one hour interval ? Thanks

 

[cht13er]

Clearly adding all the flows (in Litres, say) that occur between 2:00 and 2:59 will give you a flow in L/hour.

Not really sure what you're looking for here.

 

[francesca]

It depends what you want to use the flow data for. If it's for some kind of hydraulic study downstream of the dam, then you would want the maximum hourly flow rate over a sustained period. I'm thinking, plot the hydrograph and then pick the hour with the largest area under the curve. Then take the average flow rate during that period.

If the dam produces hydroelectric power, then it's likely that they're only releasing water through the turbines when the grid needs more power, or they have limited capacity to release for flood control/water quality reasons, but need to maintain water quality downstream of the dam. Releasing water increases oxygen levels downstream.

 

[tomwalz]

I Have found that the broader the data base, the handier the information is for establishing a planning number. Take monthly or annual release and divide it into minutes. Then roughly every minute x galons are released. I would also like to know maximum release rate, average release rate and minimum release rate.

I would average the flows for one hour.

I, als,o am not sure where you are going with this. Remember You can have one hand in boiling water and one hand in freezing water and on average both hands are warm.

Tom

Thomas J. Walz
Carbide Processors, Inc.

http://www.carbideprocessors.com

Good engineering starts with a Grainger Catalog.

 

[cvg]

if your data logger was set to record flows every hour it would
a) log the actual flow rate once per hour or
b) log the total flow during the hour

It would not give you an average of anything. You can plot hydrographs, average flows, pick out the max or min or any other sort of statistical data yourself as necessary for whatever type of analysis you are doing.