Real time water surface elevation using video camera

Abstract

In recent years, image processing has become a popular tool in wave flume experiments. In Indonesia, the use of image processing methods for measuring instruments in wave flume experiments has not been widely used. Therefore, in this study, an image processing method using image data from a digital camera was used in real time to measure the water surface elevation in the wave flume. Regular and irregular waves were measured with this image processing technique. The measurement results using this video camera were calibrated with wave gauges. The results showed that the measurement method using video images has a small difference less than 7% in wave height and wave period error. Therefore, this method can be a solution as a low cost measuring tool in wave flume or in field observations.