The Venturi Flume 
5 
experimentation, that some of the undesirable features can be very 
greatly modified, if not entirely eliminated. In order to completely 
correct these defects, it may be necessary to change the design of the 
present flume in some respects in order that a more uniform or 
stabilized condition will exist in the down stream or diverging sec- 
tion. In view of the fact that considerable work had already been 
done on the present type of flume, and further, since a number of 
these flumes are now in operation, it was thought advisable to com- 
plete the investigation along the original lines, and later to continue 
with the idea of attempting the improvement of the present flume. 
The present type of Venturi flume (Plate 1) consists of a 
contracted section through which the water passes, or essentially, a 
flume with a converging and diverging section, with a short “throat” 
section between them. The effect of passing liquids through con- 
PLATE I. — Field Installation of Three Foot Concrete Venturi Flume of 
Rectangular Cross Section. 
verging and diverging tubes was known to the Romans, and later, 
in 1797, Prof. Giovanni Battista Venturi, an Italian philosopher, 
studied this phenomenon and after many careful experiments per- 
formed at the University of Modena, stated the law in definite form. 
Nearly 100 years later, Clemens Herschel made the practical appli- 
cation of the Venturi principle to the measurement of water flow- 
ing through pipes. The Venturi flume is an adaptation of the 
