Automation Techniques for Physical Hydraulic Models.

Abstract

Automated Data Acquisition and Control Systems (ADACS) have been designed and built at the Waterways Experiment Station for the purpose of collecting data and controlling operations of physical hydraulic models. The computer hardware configuration for each system consists of a minicomputer; various peripheral devices such as magnetic tape, disc, card readers, etc.; interval timers; analog to digital converters and multiplexer or Serdex system with interfacing equipment; teletype; model control interfacing; and a printer/plotter. The ADACS are capable of automatically calibrating model sensors, controlling model operation, acquiring data from the sensors at a high sampling rate, and analyzing test data. Data are taken and recorded on disc or magnetic tape for direct analyses by the minicomputer system or on magnetic tape in a format compatible with larger computing facilities for backup analyses. Such automation techniques for hydraulic modeling has greatly reduced the time and cost of physical model testing, has improved the quality and quantity of model data, and has allowed more sophisticated procedures for data analyses and model tests than could be performed in the past. (Author)

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jan 01, 1978
Accession Number
ADA051865

Entities

People

  • Don L. Durham
  • George C. Downing

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Sensors

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Acquisition
  • Actuators
  • Automation
  • Chesapeake Bay
  • Communication Systems
  • Computers
  • Control Systems
  • Data Acquisition
  • Data Analysis
  • Data Processing
  • Data Reduction
  • Digital Data
  • Generators
  • Magnetic Tape
  • Measurement
  • New York
  • Transducers

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Coastal and Marine Engineering/Sediment Transport/Hydraulic Engineering
  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Science/Digital Signal Processing.