UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON

School of Environment & Technology

Level 2 Hydraulics CN225

Coursework (Lab) instructions
1

You will attend two lab classes in E10 during the semester. One lab class is the study of a broad
crested weir and the other is to examine flow through pipes.

You will write a lab report for each of the two labs . Both reports must be word-processed.

You are strongly advised to read Appendix A below, which provides a basic guideline for writing a
professional (technical) report.

Each report must NOT exceed

pages (Single-sided, Font 12, 1.5 line spacing), inclusive of

Tables and Diagrams. You should include a title page, content page and reference page but
these are excluded from the page limit.
5

Any data tables MUST NOT be an image copied from EXECEL and a minimum font size of 9
must be used.

You must attend both labs and a zero mark will be awarded for non-attendance.

The labs are on a tight schedule and you must arrive in time for the start of your session as
indicated in the lab group and timetable document.

All lab reports must be submitted electronically via studentcentral.

You should do some background reading in advance of each lab. You can find the lab sheets on
studentcentral and further information in Chadwick & Morfett Hydraulics in Civil and
Environmental Engineering (Chapter 4 & 5).

10 See Appendix A & B below for more details on presentation requirements and marking scheme.

Preparations in advance of a lab session

1) Read Health & Safety document
2) Do background readings covering at least the following concepts:
a) For pipe flow experiment

Bernoulli principle; frictional head loss; viscous effect; surface roughness; local head loss;
Darcy-Weisbach equation and Colebrooke-White equation; Hazen-William formula; Reynolds
number and laminar/transitional/turbulent flow; Orifice plate for discharge measurement.
b) For Channel flow
Bernoulli principle in channel flow and specific energy equation;
Subcritical/critical/supercritical flow; Broad crested weir and working principle for flow
measurements; Discharge and velocity coefficients; Hydraulic jump;

Appendix A. Technical presentation

General
a

Contents must be objective. Do not start by claiming how well your experiment has gone. Just show
what you have done and what you make of your results (i.e., interpretation of results).

Do not assume what the reader of your report has known about the subject under discussion. E.g., if
you derive an equation, give all details such as any sketch diagrams used for the derivation.

Avoid using statements such as "I did ...", "We think ....". Use passive tense. For example, instead of
"I took the following precautions...", use "The following precautions were taken".

Style of Presentation
Broadly speaking, a full technical report should be led by a table of contents, followed by introduction,
experimental setup, results, conclusions and references. In addition, recommendations for future work, and
an acknowledgement may also be included. It should be stressed that you may find variations to this style in
practice.
i)

Contents

A reader may be interested in the whole of part of a report. A contents page makes it easy for the reader to
locate sections of their interest.
ii)

Introduction

This may include the following:

general background (basic theory & practical applications)

introducing the problem, i.e., describe the need to conduct an investigation
stating the aims/objective of the investigation
iii)
Experimental setup
This should clearly describe how the experiments are carried.
apparatus/equipment (sketches and photo images as appropriate)
experimental procedures (preferably itemised)
iv)
Results
Before you start to present your data/results, you need to write appropriate text so that the reader
knows what the data/graphs are about. Remember that the reader may or may not have any
knowledge of what you are doing and it is your responsibility to guide the reader through your
report. This section normally includes the following:
Present raw data as recorded (normally tables).
Basic calculations/analysis of data (derived information), presented in tables and/or graphs.
Discussion/interpretation of the presented data/graphs: what do you make of the data/graphs? What
do they tell you?
Accuracy of measurements: how accurate are your data? What are the sources of error? (Human &
instrumental). This need to be specific and refer to the process of the experiment. Simply saying
there is human error or instrumental error is as good as saying nothing.
v)
Conclusions
You have an objective at the start of your investigation. Now you have completed your study and analysis.
What have you achieved?

Conclusions are what you draw from your data analysis and discussions


vi)

They are meant to be brief and concise.

Recommendations
What could you have done to improve the results?

vii)

References
List of literature you referred to in the report.

Appendix B
Marking sheet
Marking Considerations

Presentation

This reflects the overall presentation of the report for

guidelines, refer to Appendix A for producing a
technical report.
(Maximum 20 marks)

Basic tasks /
calculations

This reflects the work on completing basic tasks set out

in the lab sheet, including demonstrations of
calculations.
(Maximum 40 marks)

Interpretation /
conclusions

This is a reflection on how well you really understand

the data/results you have generated through your
experiment. Are you making appropriate comments
with respect to your experimental results? Are you
drawing relevant conclusions following your
discussions? Detailed guidelines are in Appendix A.
(Maximum 40 marks)

Overall Mark

Mark