Integrated monitoring method of flood free surface and surface velocity in a laboratory compound channel

River flooding can pose a significant threat to people's lives and properties on the floodplain. Due to the difficulty and potential danger of monitoring field river floods, laboratory experiments have become the main and key method for exploring flood propagation and evaluating potential flood risks. However, the complex threedimensional flow state of floods in the compound channel makes current measurement techniques inadequate for meeting monitoring requirements. To this end, a new technique is developed in this study that can simultaneously monitor the flood free surface and the surface velocity in the laboratory compound channel. The developed measurement technique combines stereoscopy and the particle tracking velocimetry (PTV) method through the pixel coordinate fitting method, so that the coordinates of the tracer particles can be reconstructed in the three-dimensional state. This method can not only increase the basic data in the free surface construction but can also capture the complex three-dimensional flood flow behavior. The proposed technology was applied to measure the free surface of flood propagation in a laboratory compound channel. Water level, flow velocity, wave velocity, and wave height were simultaneously measured. The measurement accuracy was verified using wave probes, spatial planes, and fringe projection techniques. The results indicate that the water level measurement error is approximately 1.6 mm, and the flow velocity measurement error is around 3 %. The developed measurement system is simpler than previous methods based on light reflection or absorption. Most importantly, it can simultaneously measure both the flood free surface and surface velocity by only sowing tracer particles on the water surface. The current measurement technology offers a new tool for studying flood propagation in a laboratory compound channel.