Prefabricated Weighing Lysimeter for Remote Research Stations
Fred Lourence, Richard Bridge Moore · 1991
After designing and constructing several precision scale system weighing lysimeters in Southern Europe and the Middle East, the need arose for a prefabricated 'turn-key' design where field installation complexities would be simplified and construction time greatly reduced. Five prefabricated lysimeters with surface dimensions of 4 m by 2 m have been installed; two in Saudi Arabia and three in Egypt. The weight measurement is by a load cell that is recorded by a microcomputer data logger and is backed up by a manually operated scale weighbeam. The sensitivity is to within 0.2 kg through a 6000 kg range. This is equivalent to 0.025 mm of water depth change on the 8 m 2 soil tank surface through a 750 mm range. Manual weight changes can be made to the main counterweight which enable the scale with its soil tank to be balanced at any point.