To achieve reliable and equitable water distribution it is necessary to accurately estimate the volumetric discharge of water flow through rivers and canals. One such method of accomplishing this is by using hydraulic structures, such as the tilting weir. This structure not only can be used to measure the discharge of water on a continuous basis, but also allows for regulating the water level upstream of the structure. Presently, tilting weirs are often used to control water levels, but the literature on their utilization as flow measurement structures has remained sparse. This study presents a thorough analysis of laboratory experiments on scaled models of tilting weirs, where the flow depth upstream of the structure (i.e., head) and the inclination angle are used to calibrate an equation to estimate the discharge to a high degree of accuracy. Operational guidelines to ensure minimum uncertainty in measurement are also given.

The data published here include head and discharge measurements for all experiments conducted, including information on the experimental location, date, and model dimensions. Publication of this data is intended to allow other researchers to verify the calibration procedure laid out in the primary article, and as a comparative dataset for future calibrations.