Flow testing techniques

✏️Course in Development

Just a heads-up—this section is still a work in progress! I’ll be revising and expanding it soon to make sure it’s as useful as possible. Curious about what’s already done or currently in the works? Check the changelog for updates.

While pressure data tells you a lot about the state of your system, understanding how much water is flowing, and where, is equally critical for a comprehensive hydraulic analysis. This section is dedicated to the various methods you can employ to measure water flow rates within your distribution system. A primary focus, especially given its importance in US-style calibration and system capacity assessment, will be on conducting fire flow tests, also known as hydrant capacity tests.

We’ll detail the standard procedure: selecting appropriate hydrants to flow, the equipment needed (like pitot gauges and pressure gauges), how to safely conduct the test, and accurately measuring both the flow rate from the flowed hydrant(s) and the corresponding drop in residual pressures at nearby observation hydrants. This data is crucial for verifying your model's ability to predict system performance under high-demand stress conditions.

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