堰和水槽提供了一种测量明渠中水和悬浮物流速的方法。它们易于安装，适用于测量白水、废水和其他低粘度液体流量。基本原理是，排放流量是装置上游水深（水头）的函数，可以使用常规方法轻松测量。流量计算的精度通常为5%或更高。堰的建造成本较低，相对容易分析，但它们可能会受到上游沉积物堆积的影响。 与堰相比，渡槽可以处理更大的流速，水头损失更小，并且能够自我冲刷。它们的建造和分析比堰更复杂。

Weirs and flumes provide a means for measuring the flow rate of water and suspensions in open channels. They are easy to install and are suitable for the measurement of whitewater, effluent and other low viscosity liquid flows. The basic principle is that the discharge flow rate is a function of the water depth (head) upstream of the device and it can be easily measured using conventional methods. The accuracy of the flow rate calculation is typically 5% or better.Weirs are inexpensive to construct and relatively easy to analyze, but they can be subject to upstream accumulation of sediments. Compared to weirs, flumes can handle greater flow rates, have less headloss and are self-scouring. They are more complicated to build and more complex to analyze than weirs.