King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering

Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

MEP 365 Thermal Measurements

Flow Rate Measurements Using Obstruction Meters

Experiment No. 5

Name

Computer No

Date of the experiment

Date of submission

April 2011

King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

1. Introduction
Obstruction meters are devices with reduced flow area when installed in a pipe flow. This creates
pressure drop across the meter. Using the basic mass conservation and Bernoulli equations one can
calculate the flow through the pipe. Among the common obstruction meters are:
1) Orifice
2) Nozzle
3) Venture tube
Figure 1 shows these three meters.
Applying the mass conservation and Bernoulli equation between two sections one upstream and the
other is just down stream of the meter.
V1 A1 = V2 A2
p1

(1)

2
1

2
2

V
p V
= 2+

2
From these two equations one can get the volume flow rate V&
+

(2)

1
2( p1 p2 )
(3)

1 A2 / A1
But in driving the above equation, the loss between section 1 and section 2 is neglected, and usually
the known area are upstream flow area i.e. A1 and the throat area Ao. It is common to define a
discharge coefficient C for obstruction meter as follows
V& = V2 A2 = A2

C=

Qactual
Qideal

(4)

So that the actual flow rate is given by

2( p1 p2 )

Qactual = CEAo

(5)

where
E is called the approach factor, and defined as
E=

1
1 4

(6)

and

do
d1

(7)

Ao is the minimum area of the obstruction device

do minimum diameter at the throat
d1 the up stream diameter of the pipe
Sometime a flow coefficient Ko is defined as the product of C and E, i.e.
Ko=CE

(8)
2

King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

Figure 1 Obstruction meters

2. Apparatus
The equipment used for this experiment is shown in Fig. 2, from GUNT Company. The apparatus
consists basically of a fan that sucks air through a along pipe. The orifice or the nozzle is located at
position 8 (see the figure). There is also a diaphragm flow meter called IRIS diaphragm which is as
shown as item 7 in the figure. The pressure difference across any of the flow meters can be measured
using the multiple water manometers (item 9 in the figure) using flexible hoses. The main pipe of the
apparatus is also fitted with a Pitot tube (see item 11 in figure 2). the air flow direction is from right to
left.

Figure (2) Apparatus

King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

3. Procedure
1-Inspect thoroughly the equipment for this experiment. Inspect the fan, the IRIS diaphragm, the
water manometers and the hoses used to connect pressure tabs to the manometer.
2-Look into the far right end of the pipe and see the IRIS diaphragm flow meter. You can push the
IRIS valve on the top of the pipe and twist it in order to see how the diaphragm opening changes as
the number on the top of the valve changes from 1 to 6. Let the technician helps you to see how to
control the diaphragm opening.
3-Make sure that the installed obstruction meter is the Nozzle. You can also inspect a nozzle similar to
the one installed on the equipment. Ask the lab. technician to show you both the nozzle and the
orifice.
4-With the help of the Lab. technician set the control valve of the diaphragm opening to 1, and turn
the fan on. Try not to come very close to the pipe inlet where the air is sucked by the fan.
5-Record the manometer across the nozzle and across the IRIS diaphragm meter in Table (1)
6-Repeat for at least six readings for different IRIS diaphragm openings.
4. Calculations
1-Calculate the pressure drop and the volume flow rate through the IRIS diaphragm using

Pir = w g (h1 h2 ) / 1000

(9)
where w is water density, and h1 and h2 are the manometer reading across the IRIS diagram flow
meter in mm
The flow rate through the IRIS can be found once the pressure drop across the meter is found using
the equation
V&ir = 1000 *10 3 k Pir
(10)
k coefficient for IRIS is given in Table 2 as a function of IRIS opening. The above equation gives the
volume flow rate in m3/s.
2- Calculate the pressure drop and volume flow rate through the nozzle using

Pn = w g (h3 h4 ) / 1000
where h3 and h4 are the manometer reading across the nozzle. Again h3 and h4 are in mm.
V&n = K o Ao 2p / a = CEAo 2pn / a

(11)

(11)

According to the equipment manufacturer the value of Ko is 1.066, and the minimum diameter do is 50
mm, while the upstream pipe inside diameter d1 is 84 mm. a is the air density.
3- Calculate the percentage difference between V&th and V&n .
4-On excel sheet plot the variation of V& and V& with IRIS diaphragm opening.
th

5-Assume that V&ir is more accurate than V&n calculate the appropriate value of Ko for the nozzle for all
above cases and draw the variation of Ko with Reynolds number Red1. Compare with text book or
standard values. Re d 1 = Vd1 / = 4m& / d1

King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

Table 1 Summary of the results

IRIS
h1
Opening [mm]

h2
[mm]

hir
[m]

IRIS
Pir
[Pa]

V&ir
[m3/s]

h3
[mm]

h4
[mm]

hn
[m]

Nozzle
Pn
[Pa]

V&n
[m3/s]

King Abdulaziz University

College of Engineering, Mechanical Engineering
Thermal Engineering & Desalination Technology Department

Table 2 IRIS flow coefficient k as a function of the diaphragm opening

IRIS
Opening
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
5.5
6
5. Symbols
Symbol
A
C
E

Meaning
Cross section area [m2]
Discharge Coefficient
Approach factor

h
k
Ko
p
Red1
V
V&

Manometer reading [mm]

IRIS diaphragm flow coefficient
Nozzle flow coefficient
Pressure [Pa]
Reynolds number based on d1
Velocity [m/s]
Volume flow rate [m3/s]

w
a

Diameter ratio do/d1

Water density [kg/m3]
Air density [kg/m3]

Subscript
ir
n
o

IRIS diaphragm flow meter

nozzle flow meter
throat

k
1.8
2.1
2.4
2.7
3.1
3.6
4.1
4.7
5.5
6.4
7.8

6. Additional Data about the apparatus

d1
pipe inside diameter
84 mm
do
nozzle diameter
50 mm
Ko
flow coefficient of the nozzle
1.066