Cavitation Inception and Head

Loss Due to Liquid Flow Through

Perforated Plates of Varying
Thickness
D. Maynes1
e-mail: maynes@byu.edu This paper reports results of an experimental investigation of the loss coefficient and
onset of cavitation caused by water flow through perforated plates of varying thickness
G. J. Holt and flow area to pipe area ratio at high speeds. The overall plate loss coefficient, point of
cavitation inception, and point where critical cavitation occurs are functions of perfora-
J. Blotter tion hole size, number of holes, and plate thickness. Sixteen total plates were considered
in the study with the total perforation hole area to pipe area ratio ranging from 0.11 and
Department of Mechanical Engineering, 0.6, the plate thickness to perforation hole diameter ranging from 0.25 to 3.3, and the
Brigham Young University, number of perforation holes ranging from 4 to 1800. The plates were mounted in the test
Provo, UT 84602 section of a closed water flow loop. The results reveal a complex dependency between the
plate loss coefficient with total free-area ratio and the plate thickness to perforation hole
diameter ratio. In general, the loss coefficient decreases with increasing free-area ratio
and increasing thickness-to-hole diameter ratio. A model based on the data is presented
that predicts the loss coefficient for multiholed perforated plates with nonrounded holes.
Furthermore, the data show that the cavitation number at the points of cavitation incep-
tion and critical cavitation increases with increasing free-area ratio. However, with
regard to the thickness-to-hole diameter ratio, the cavitation number at inception exhibits
a local maximum at a ratio between 0.5 and 1.0. Empirical models to allow prediction
of the point of cavitation inception and the point where critical cavitation begins are
presented and compared to single hole orifice plate behavior. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4023407]

1 Introduction
1.1 Motivation. Liquid flow through perforated plates can
result in cavitation if the pipe velocity is sufficiently high. A perfo-
rated plate is similar to an orifice plate but with multiple holes. The
number of holes, N, plate thickness, t, hole diameter, d, and pipe di-
ameter, D, all influence the overall pressure loss across the plate,
the point of incipient cavitation and the point of critical cavitation.
Incipient cavitation refers to the first onset of cavitation for the
entire flow region, although the formation of vapor bubbles may be
intermittent, and critical cavitation refers to the point where con-
stant formation of vapor cavities prevails. Figure 1 shows examples
of typical perforated plates that were used in this study.
Perforated plates can be used to physically simulate high-
pressure drop valve systems of similar hole size, which are fre-
quently encountered in industrial systems. The noise and vibra-
tions that result from cavitation through such plates or similar
geometries can lead to pipe failure and adverse operating condi-
tions [1–4]. Vibration induced fatigue is one of the predominant
failure mechanisms of pipe systems in large scale industrial set-
tings [5,6] and a general predictive ability as to when incipient
cavitation and critical cavitation occur is of significant relevance.
The flow through a multiholed plate differs from flow through a
single-holed orifice plate due to the existence of the multiple inter-
acting jets downstream of the plate. The jets interact in a manner
that alters both the overall plate loss coefficient and the points of in-
cipient and critical cavitation from that characteristic of a single
holed orifice plate. Furthermore, much of the available literature
related to loss and cavitation inception at orifice plates considers
the thin plate (thickness to hole diameter ratio, t/d, less than 18)
1
Corresponding author.
Manuscript received June 26, 2012; final manuscript received December 18,
2012; published online February 22, 2013. Assoc. Editor: Mark R. Duignan.
situation [7]. In a typical perforated plate flow scenario, the plate
may not be thin, with the thickness of the plate relative to the hole
diameters much larger than assumed for the typical sharp-edge ori-
fice application. Because of these differences, prediction of pressure
loss and the onset points of incipient and critical cavitation for per-
forated plates based on single hole sharp edge orifice data or mod-
els yields significant error, although it has been expected that the
behavior would mimic the single hole orifice more closely [2].
1.2 Background. Cavitation occurs when the local static
pressure drops below the vapor pressure at liquid/gas interfaces
found at nucleation sites on surfaces or in the flow where absorbed
air exists [8–10]. When liquid approaches a perforated plate, it is
forced to accelerate through the holes causing the pressure to drop
locally inside the perforation holes and in the exiting fluid jets.
When the local static pressure drops below the vapor pressure, Pv,
vapor bubbles form at nucleation sites. These bubbles are then
carried downstream to a point where the pressure begins to rise,
causing the bubbles to collapse on themselves. At bubble collapse,
a large amount of energy is released, resulting in noise and vibra-
tions that are transmitted into the pipe structure, both undesirable
in industrial settings. Furthermore, direct damage to orifices and
pipe walls due to pitting can be a significant problem. Due to
interactions of the multiple parallel exiting jets that prevail in a
perforated plate, the onset of cavitation in such a system can be
different than for a single jet of the same overall flow area.
In pipe flow regimes where cavitation prevails, the cavitation
number, r, is often employed as defined in Eq. (1) [2,11].
P2  Pv
r¼ (1)
P1  P2
P2 is the downstream static pressure, Pv is the liquid vapor pres-
sure, and P1 is the upstream static pressure. A cavitation number

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Fig. 1 Photograph of a typical multiholed perforated plate
used in this study
based on the dynamic pressure rather than the pressure drop is
also commonly used and is defined in Eq. (2). r and rv are related
to each other by the pipe loss coefficient, KLp as shown in Eq. (3),
where KLp is defined in Eq. (4).
P2  Pv
rv ¼
1=2qVp2
rv
r¼
KLp
P1  P2
KLp ¼ (4)
1=2qVp2
Vp is the average velocity in the pipe upstream from the perforated
plate and q is the liquid density. Both r and rv are often used to
characterize cavitation level [11], however, here we choose to
generally utilize r. Figure 2 shows the typical behavior of the pipe
wall vibration (measured with wall mounted accelerometers in the
present study) as a function of cavitation number, r, for flow
through a typical perforated plate. The figure presents the root
mean square (rms) of the pipe wall acceleration, A0 , plotted with
respect to r for a typical configuration. As has been noted previ-
ously [11], measurement of the pipe wall acceleration is an excel-
lent means of determining cavitation inception and other critical
cavitation points, since the pipe wall responds directly to the pres-
sure waves caused by the phenomena. Here the acceleration data
are only used to identify the points of incipient and critical cavita-
tion, as discussed further below. The magnitude of the pipe wall
0
Fig. 2 A representative plot of A versus r, illustrating the four
different cavitation regimes described in the text
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vibration will vary with pipe material, pipe mounting conditions,
etc., and is not of interest for the present paper.
The data of Fig. 2 illustrates the existence of four distinct cavita-
tion regimes. The first (r > 5) is the turbulent regime where cavita-
tion has not occurred and the vibrations are due entirely to the
turbulent jets, their shear layers, and interactions. The second
(4 < r < 5) is where the acceleration levels dramatically increase
over a small change in r. This regime represents where cavitation
has onset, although the cavitation in this regime is only intermittent.
The third (2 < r < 4) is the regime where the flow is fully cavitat-
ing. The fourth (r < 2) is where choking of the flow occurs and the
vibration levels decrease. The points where the lines intersect in
Fig. 2 are all important cavitation numbers and are defined here as
[11]: (1) The inception cavitation number, ri; (2) The critical cavi-
tation number, rc; and (3) The choking cavitation number, rch.
The incipient cavitation number is the point where cavitation first
occurs and where small vapor bubbles are formed irregularly [12].
The generated noise is intermittent popping that can barely be dis-
cerned over the turbulent flow generated noise and is a design limit
that is often used when no cavitation is desired within a system
[11]. The critical cavitation number is where the flow is fully cavi-
tating, or there is a constant generation of vapor bubbles [11]. This
is a design limit that is used when some cavitation can be permitted.
Many systems that operate continuously are often run to this limit.
The choking cavitation number, which is not explored in this
research, is the point where choked flow is occurring. Choked flow
(2)
is occurring because the local speed of sound in the two-phase flow
is lower than the local flow speed and the mass flow rate and can
no longer increase by dropping the downstream pressure.
(3)
1.3 Previous Work. The parameters that have previously
been shown to exercise influence on pressure loss and cavitation
inception are t/d, and the free-area ratio, defined to the be the ratio
of the total hole area to the pipe cross-sectional area, Ah/Ap. There
has been a significant amount of attention devoted to the pressure
drop across single hole thin sharp-edge orifice plates, and such is
treated in most undergraduate fluid mechanics texts. However,
investigations addressing the pressure drop across multiholed plates
and plates that are not “thin,” are few. The most comprehensive
study to investigate pressure loss at perforated plates was performed
by Kolodzie and Van Winkle [13]. They measured the loss coeffi-
cient for a wide range of perforated plates with the t/d ranging from
0.33 to 2.0 and Ah/Ap ranging from 0.027 to 0.16, and number of
holes ranging from 7 to 331. Although the number of plates consid-
ered was large, the range of Ah/Ap explored was limited to relatively
small values (less than 0.2). Air was utilized as the working fluid in
their study and thus single-phase conditions prevailed throughout.
They showed that, provided the Reynolds number based on the av-
erage hole velocity and hole diameter (Reh ¼ Vhd/) was greater
than about 3000, the loss coefficient maintains a constant value, in-
dependent of Reynolds number. Their data are useful in comparing
to the present results and in validating a generalized model for pre-
dicting loss coefficient presented later in the paper.
Testud et al. [2] experimentally explored the noise generated by
cavitation for water flow through a single hole orifice and a multi-
holed plate (47 holes). The two plates had nominally the same
free-area ratio (Ah/Ap  0.08 – 0.09) and the same plate thickness.
However, the t/d ratio for the single hole plate was 0.64, while for
the multiholed plate it was 4.7. r was varied in their experiments
from 0.03 to 0.74. Results from this study will also be compared
to the results in this paper.
Work by Tullis et al. [3,11,14] has been the most significant
with regard to predicting the onset of cavitation for liquid flow
through single hole orifice plates. He has presented correlations
from which ri, rc, and rch may be estimated based on the plate
discharge coefficient, Cd, where Cd is defined as
Vp 1
Cd ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi (5)
2ðP1  P2 Þ=q þ V 2 KLp þ 1
p
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 Data of Tullis et al. [3,11,14] are compared in the results sec-
tion to our data for multiholed plates. More recent studies have
addressed the flow of non-Newtonion fluids [15], numerical mod-
eling of cavitation [16] and head loss in multiphase flows [17]
through single square edge hole orifice plates.
1.4 Contributions of Present Work. The focus of this work
is to present the results of an experimental investigation that char-
acterizes plate loss coefficient and points of incipient and critical
cavitation for 16 perforated plates. The number of perforation
holes ranged from 4 to 1800, the free-area ratio was in the range
0.11  Ah/Ap  0.6 and the plate thickness to perforation hole di-
ameter was in the range 0.25  t/d  3.3. The results are useful in
understanding the effect all of the influencing variables exert on
KLp, ri, and rc, and in predicting behavior for future designs. Fur-
thermore, the results reveal how these parameters depart from the
behavior characteristic of single hole orifice plate studies. Models
are developed using the present data from which KLp, ri, and rc,
can be determined as a function of the influencing variables for
both thick and thin multiholed plates.
2 Analysis
This section of the paper introduces two models for the plate
loss coefficient. These two models represent bounding values
which all of the present data lie between, and form the basis for
an empirical model to predict KLp. For flow through a nonrounded
perforation or orifice hole, the flow through the hole creates a jet
of liquid surrounded by a region of relatively stagnant fluid form-
ing a vena-contracta. Testud et al. [2] showed that two theoretical
models could be developed for the loss coefficient dependent
upon whether the flow reattaches inside of the hole or not after the
vena-contracta. Whether or not the flow reattaches is dependent
upon t/d. These models were developed from an integral analysis
of a sudden contraction followed by a sudden expansion, and are
derived below, considering the flow area is in the form of a single
hole in the plate. It should be noted that the loss coefficients pre-
sented in this section are based on the average perforation hole ve-
locity. As such, these are related to the loss coefficient based on
the average pipe velocity by the factor (Ah/Ap) [2].
For steady incompressible flow through a perforated plate (see
Fig. 3), conservation of mass yields
Vp Ap ¼ Vj Aj ¼ Vh Ah (6)
Vj is the average jet velocity in the jet region of the vena-con-
tracta, Aj is the total jet area (for all holes), Vh is the average ve-
locity in the hole, and Ah is the total area of the perforation holes.
Note that Vj is greater than Vh due to the stagnant fluid in the recir-
culation zones of the vena-contracta and Aj is correspondingly
smaller than Ah.
2.1 Detached Model (Thin Plate). If the fluid, passing
through the vena-contracta portion of a perforated plate, does not
Fig. 3 Illustration of a flow through a thin perforation hole
when flow does not reattach after the vena-contracta (detached)
with the control volume for the integral analysis indicated
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reattach to the walls of the holes, the flow is said to be detached.
This is illustrated in Fig. 3. The following analysis develops an in-
tegral analysis for the loss coefficient when the flow is in this
state. Considering the sudden contraction region and assuming the
flow is inviscid and steady, Bernoulli’s equation states
1 1
P1 þ qVp2 ¼ Pj þ qVj2 (7)
2 2
where P1 is the upstream pressure, Pj is the jet pressure, and the
velocities are assumed to be one-dimensional.
An integral momentum analysis in the streamwise direction for
the sudden expansion area, is now performed for the control vol-
ume depicted in Fig. 3, where the incoming flow is detached from
the hole surface and at a velocity Vj with an effective flow area of
Aj. Neglecting body forces, the momentum equation for a steady,
one-dimensional flow may be expressed as
 
Pj Ap  P2 Ap ¼ q Vp2 Ap  Vj2 Aj (8)
where Pj is assumed to prevail across the entire pipe area (Ap) at
the sudden expansion, as is often done [7]. Combining Eqs. (7)
and (8) and using Eq. (6), the following expression for the
detached loss coefficient (KLD) based on Vh results in:
 2
2ðP1  P2 Þ 1 Ah
KLD ¼ ¼  (9)
qVh2 a Ap
a is the contraction ratio of the vena-contracta (Aj/Ah) and for an
ideal thin orifice with a sharp edge exiting to free space is nomi-
nally a value of 0.61 [7,18,19].
2.2 Attached Model (Thick Plate). For a thick plate, the
same upstream conditions can be assumed as the thin plate dis-
cussed above and Eq. (6) still applies. However, the conditions
downstream of the plate are now different. Because the flow reat-
taches itself inside of the hole, there will be loss due to the turbu-
lent mixing and frictional resistance within each of the perforation
holes. To account for this, a momentum integral analysis is per-
formed in the perforated holes from the point of the throat in the
vena-contracta to the hole exits as illustrated in Fig. 4. A one-
dimensionsal integral analysis for control volume A in Fig. 4
yields
Pj Ah  Ph Ah ¼ qðVh2 Ah  Vj2 Aj Þ (10)
Ph is the pressure at the exit of the hole, and the pressure at the
throat of the vena-contracta Pj is assumed to prevail across the
entire hole area (Ah), although there will be some small deviation
from this due to streamline curvature in the recirculation region.
A momentum integral analysis on the sudden expansion (con-
trol volume B in Fig. 4) for the thick plate scenario yields
Fig. 4 Illustration of flow through a thick perforation hole
when the flow reattaches in the hole after the vena-contracta
with the control volumes used for the integral analysis
indicated
MARCH 2013, Vol. 135 / 031302-3
  
Ph Ap  P2 Ap ¼ q Vp2 Ap  Vh2 Ah
Ph is again assumed to prevail over the entire pipe area at the inlet
to control volume B. Combining Eqs. (7), (10), and (11) and using
Eq. (6), an equation for the attached loss coefficient (KLA) based
on Vh can be produced and is shown in Eq. (12).
   2
2ðP1  P2 Þ Ah 1 1 Ah
KLA ¼ ¼2 1  þ 2þ
qVh2 Ap a a Ap
3 Experimental Method
The following sections provide a description of the flow loop
and the perforated plates that were utilized in the experiments.
The instrumentation that was used to obtain measurements and
the experimental procedure are then described. Lastly, the method
of data analysis and experimental uncertainty are discussed.
3.1 Flow Loop Facility. Shown in Fig. 5 is a schematic
drawing of the flow loop facility, which is described briefly here
with more details provided in Refs. [20,21]. Flow is delivered by
a Bell and Gossett centrifugal pump driven by a 75 hp Marathon
Electric 365T motor, with both being mounted on a vibration iso-
lation pad. The inlet and outlet pipes to the pump are 20.3 and
10.2 cm Schedule 80 PVC pipe, respectively. Downstream of the
pump is a flow conditioner within an expanded pipe of 20.32 cm
diameter Schedule 80 PVC pipe. The flow conditioner consists of
a 7.6 cm thick piece of aluminum honeycomb and three mesh
screens all sandwiched between aluminum rings to keep it from
being forced downstream. The flow conditioner is used to
straighten the flow and eliminate eddies formed by the pump. Fol-
lowing the flow conditioner, the pipe diameter is reduced to
10.2 cm diameter Schedule 40 pipe. Immediately after the reduc-
tion, a flexible rubber coupler is mounted inline and, due to its
flexibility, acts to minimize transmission of vibration from the
pump downstream into the section of pipe where measurements
were acquired. The pipe is hard mounted to a concrete wall both
immediately before and after the rubber coupler to further reduce
transmission of structural vibrations.
Downstream of these mounts, the pipe is supported by flexible
cables hung from the laboratory ceiling. After the rubber coupler
is a straight section of Schedule 40 pipe of length 6.1 m and diam-
eter 10.2 cm (60 pipe diameters). Estimating the developing
length, le, from le/D ¼ 4.4ReD1/6 [7], the length of the pipe
upstream of the perforated plate is much longer than the turbulent
development length required at the highest Reynolds number,
ReD, explored. The perforated plates tested in this study were
flanged connected between this section of pipe and a straight
downstream section of pipe 120 pipe diameters in length.
Fig. 5 Schematic drawing of the flow loop facility used for all experiments
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(11) Far downstream (120 diameters) from the perforated plate the
flow loop transitions through two elbows, separated by a vertical
pipe section 20 diameters in length, and returns along the floor of the
laboratory back toward the pump. A volume flow meter and thermo-
couple are located in this return line. The location of the flow meter
is more than 200 pipe diameters downstream from the perforated
plates. Here, the static pressure is very nearly atmospheric and no
water vapor can exist in the flow. Following the flow meter is a verti-
cal vent that extends 1 m above the elevation of the facility test sec-
(12)
tion, which is at the highest point of the flow loop. This vent is used
to fill the flow loop, to allow entrapped air in the system to escape,
and to protect the system from over pressurization. During all test-
ing, the water level in the vent was maintained at nominally 0.6 m
above the highest point in the flow loop, and thus air could not be
entrained into the flow loop during dynamic or static conditions. A
second flexible rubber coupler is located immediately before the ver-
tical vent and after the vent the pipe expands to a diameter of
20.32 cm before the pipe connects to the inlet of the pump.
Two valves are located at the pump outlet, one connected to the
main line, and the second connected to a branch line. The branch
line bypassed the perforated plate measurement section and was
used to characterize the magnitude of vibrations at the perforated
plate location due to the pump rotation and vibration. This was
accomplished by operating the pump at a specific pump speed
while measuring the induced vibration at the perforated plate with
flow passing only through the branch line. This was then repeated
with flow only through the main line at the same pump speed. At
the point of incipient cavitation, the magnitude of the vibration
due to the turbulent flow and cavitation were more than 40 times
greater than the measured vibration when water was passing only
through the branch line. Of course, at the point of critical cavita-
tion, the pump vibration exerts even smaller influence. Thus, with
regard to identifying the points of incipient and critical cavitation,
the influence of pump vibration on the accelerometer data is negli-
gibly small.
Tap water was utilized in the flow loop facility. It was not
degassed and is expected to be saturated with dissolved air, repre-
sented operating conditions for many industrial water flow envi-
ronments. Both the temperature and pH of the water were
monitored throughout all testing. The water temperature remained
in the range 22–35  C for all experiments and was used to deter-
mine the fluid viscosity and to estimate the dissolved gas content.
The pH of the water remained nominally constant at pH 8 and
consequently it is expected that the dissolved gas content
remained fairly consistent. The majority of the time the water in
the flow loop exists at atmospheric pressure. At this pressure and
for the temperature range encountered, the volume fraction of the
dissolved gas content is estimated to be nominally 0.01–0.018.
As noted above, nearly atmospheric pressure was maintained at
the inlet of the pump; thus the pressure immediately downstream
Transactions of the ASME
 Table 1 Perforated plates used in the study with hole diameter, number of holes, plate thickness, free-area ratio, and thickness to
diameter ratio shown. Also listed are the ranges of P2 and Vp for each plate, in addition to the values of P2i and Vpi.

Plate label d (cm) t (cm) No. of holes Ah/Ap t/d P2 range (kPa) Vp range (m/s) P2i (kPa) Vpi (m/s)

A1 2.53 0.66 7 0.431 0.261 98–178 1.9–5.9 113.3 3.0

A2 2.54 0.65 4 0.248 0.256 89–107 0.75–2.6 93.2 1.4
B1 1.27 0.66 28 0.434 0.520 121–185 2.6–6.1 131.5 4.0
B2 1.26 0.66 14 0.214 0.524 89–112 0.84–3.0 94.1 1.5
B3 1.27 0.31 7 0.109 0.244 89–96 0.5–1.4 92.3 0.96
B4 1.27 0.64 7 0.109 0.504 89–96 0.5–1.4 93.0 1.15
C1 0.64 0.65 156 0.614 1.016 125–263 3.7–8.5 N/A N/A
C2 0.64 0.67 112 0.441 1.047 108–223 2.7–7.7 146.0 4.9
C3 0.65 0.65 57 0.231 1.000 94–126 1.5–3.7 100.8 2.1
C4 0.63 0.65 28 0.107 1.032 89–94 0.5–1.4 91.0 0.94
D1 0.32 0.51 624 0.614 1.594 125–261 3.7–8.4 N/A N/A
D2 0.32 0.51 448 0.441 1.594 119–242 2.8–8.1 159.2 5.3
D3 0.32 0.56 224 0.220 1.750 94–129 1.5–3.9 102.8 2.3
D4 0.31 0.52 112 0.103 1.677 89–99 0.5–1.6 91.8 1.04
E1 0.16 0.50 1793 0.441 3.125 108–242 2.1–8.1 173.5 5.8
E2 0.16 0.54 896 0.220 3.375 93–133 1.4–4.1 105.3 2.5

of the perforated plates, P2, was not constant, but varied according
to the head loss between the pressure measurement location and
the location of the vent. P2 increased as expected with increasing
flow rate for each perforated plate tested. P2 (absolute) varied
from nominally 90 kPa to 240 kPa over the range of flow speeds
considered. The atmospheric pressure at the elevation of the labo-
ratory is nominally 86 kPa. The actual ranges for P1, P2, and Vp
are given in Table 1 for all perforated plates considered. Also
shown in the table are P2i and Vpi, which are the downstream pres-
sure and average pipe velocity values at the cavitation inception
point.
3.2 Perforated Plates. A total of 16 perforated plates of vary-
ing perforation hole diameter, free-area ratios, and plate thicknesses
were used in this study. All plates were made of aluminum and
were flange mounted between the developing section length of pipe
and the pipe test section. The plates have nominal hole diameters of
2.54 cm, 1.27 cm, 0.64 cm, 0.32 cm, and 0.16 cm and all plates
exhibited nonchamfered holes. The inlets and exits of the holes
were abrupt without burrs and no measureable radius of curvature
existed. The plates were examined thoroughly prior to and after
testing and no discernible changes occurred in the hole inlets/exits
during the process of testing. The free area ratio of the plates (ratio
of hole area to total pipe area) was nominally 0.11, 0.22, 0.44, and
0.61, although some modest variation from these values exists. The
thicknesses of the plates were nominally 0.31 cm, 0.52 cm, and
0.65 cm. Table 1 lists the perforated plates employed and their asso-
ciated characteristics. The hole sizes, number of holes, and plate
thicknesses were chosen to provide systematic variation in the total
through area ratio and plate thickness to hole diameter ratio. For
each plate the holes were spaced uniformly, although due to the dis-
crete nature of the holes and the goal to match a specific through
area ratio, near the edges the hole pattern was not exactly symmet-
ric (for example see the left image of Fig. 1).
3.3 Instrumentation. A single PCB Piezotronics ICP 352C68
accelerometer was used to measure the pipe wall acceleration. The
sensitivity of the accelerometer was 10.2 mV/(m/s2), the range was
6491 m/s2, and the resolution was 1.5  103 m/s2. The accelerom-
eter was placed on the side of the pipe test section three diameters
downstream from the location where the perforated plates were
flange mounted. Two Omega PX 309 static pressure transducers
with ranges up to 0–100 psi, and accuracy of 60.25% (based on
full scale) were placed three diameters upstream and six diameters
downstream of the plate location and were used to measure the
pressure drop across the plate. Downstream of the pipe test section,
an Omega FP6500 series paddlewheel with a range of 0.1–9 m/s
and accuracy of 61.5%, was used to measure the flow rate in the
test section. Also downstream of the test section a K-type thermo-
couple with accuracy of 60.5  C was used to measure the fluid
temperature so as to determine the vapor pressure and water
properties.
3.4 Experimental Procedure. Experiments were conducted
in both the cavitating and noncavitating flow regimes to character-
ize the initiation of cavitation and the pipe wall acceleration over
a range of average pipe fluid velocities from Vp ¼ 0.35–8.5 m/s.
Data were acquired once steady state was achieved for a given
flow speed, which corresponded to the time-averaged pressure
drop across the orifice plate and the rms of the accelerometer data
each leveling off at constant values. The accelerometer, pressure,
noise, and flow rate data were acquired at a sample rate of 50 kHz
for 5 seconds for each pipe velocity considered. A 2 Hz high pass
filter and a 20 kHz low pass filter was used to filter the accelerom-
eter data. The filters were used to eliminate the low frequency
noise that was occurring due to low frequency pipe swaying at the
lower end and the resonant frequencies of the measurement devi-
ces at the high frequencies. These measurements were acquired
for each of the 16 plates over as large of flow speed as possible
for each plate. Two independent tests were conducted for every
scenario and the results were averaged.
3.5 Data Analysis. The accelerometer data collected was
post-processed to obtain the rms of the acceleration data (A0 ) for
each velocity measurement. The time averages of the pressure and
flow rate measurements were also acquired for each velocity condi-
tion. To determine the point of cavitation inception and critical cav-
itation, A0 was plotted as a function of r. The logarithm of each
variable was determined and the data were plotted, as illustrated in
Fig. 6, which shows a representative curve obtained from our meas-
urements. A regression analysis (y ¼ mx þ b) was performed for
each of the three linear sections of data evident in the figure. The
three regions shown in the figure existed and were well-defined for
all of the plates considered here. The points of intersection of the
three linear sections were determined to be the points of cavitation
inception and critical cavitation. This method was performed for
each of the two sets of data obtained for each plate and the results
were averaged. The plate loss coefficient based off the average pipe
velocity, KLp, was calculated from Eq. (4) and the loss coefficient
based on the average hole velocity was then determined as
 2
Ah
KLh ¼ KLp (13)
Ap
3.6 Uncertainty Analysis. Several sources of uncertainty
exist, which include the uncertainty in the regression analysis (to

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 Fig. 6 ln(A0 ) as a function of ln(r) for a typical plate. Cavitation
inception and critical cavitation values are denoted at the inter-
section of the linear fits (y 5 mx 1 b) for each of the three
regimes.
find ri, rc), in the calculation of KLp, Ah/Ap, and t/d and in the
measurements acquired. The uncertainty in the pressure measure-
ments was limited to the pressure sensor accuracy of 60.25% of full
scale. The accuracy of the accelerometer was 67.5  104 m/s2.
The perforation hole diameter and plate thickness uncertainty was
65  105 m. The uncertainty of the thermocouple measurement
was 60.5  C and the uncertainty of the average velocity measure-
ment was 61.5%.
Standard uncertainty analysis was employed to calculate the
uncertainty in determining KLp, Ah/Ap, and t/d accounting for all
measurement error [22]. The average total uncertainty in KLp was
nominally 64.1% for all the plates used, with a maximum and
minimum uncertainty of 65.6% and 63.3%, respectively. The av-
erage uncertainty of all the plates for Ah/Ap is nominally 60.1%
and the average uncertainty for t/d is nominally 60.02%. The
uncertainties in the points ri and rc are 10.4% and 3.4%, respec-
tively, and this accounts for propagation of error from the meas-
ured data and the regression analysis employed.
4 Results
4.1 Generalized Loss Coefficient Behavior. The loss coeffi-
cient is a significant variable when considering cavitation and flow
induced pipe vibrations. This is because the loss of pressure across
a perforated plate represents energy being converted into other
forms. These other forms of energy are thermal, acoustical, internal
(change of phase, from liquid to vapor for cavitation), and kinetic
energy of the pipe wall (vibrations). As was shown in the work of
Kolodzie and Van Winkle [13], for incompressible flow through a
multiholed orifice plate the loss coefficient levels off to a constant
value, provided Reh  3000. Similar behavior exists in all of our
measurements and for all of our data Reh > 3000. Figure 7 presents
the loss coefficient, KLh, as a function of the average perforation
hole velocity, Vh, for six representative plates. Recall KLh is the loss
coefficient based on average perforation hole velocity and is related
to KLp as shown in Eq. (13). Data are shown for four plates with
through area ratios in the range 0.431–0.441 and for four hole diam-
eter sizes ranging from 0.51 to 2.53 cm. In addition, data are shown
for three plates with nominally constant hole diameters
(0.51–0.56 cm) and at three area ratios ranging from 0.103–0.441.
The significance of the data of Fig. 7 is that for each plate, the
loss coefficient remains an essentially constant value, regardless of
the average liquid hole velocity or Reynolds number. The only
deviation from this constancy occurs for plates D3 and D2 at ele-
vated jet velocities (Vj > 14.5 m/s) and this behavior exists because
at this extreme operating speed, the liquid is well beyond the criti-
cal cavitation point and the flow through the holes is dominated by
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Fig. 7 Loss coefficient, KLh, as a function of the average perfo-
ration hole velocity for six perforated plates
two-phase influences. It should be noted here that the focus of this
paper is only on the regime up to the point of critical cavitation and
thus in this regime the loss coefficient is independent of pipe flow
rate. The behavior of Fig. 7 prevailed for all perforated plates con-
sidered in this study.
Shown in Fig. 8 is the loss coefficient, KLh, versus the through
area ratio (Ah/Ap) for the 16 perforated plates utilized in the pres-
ent study (closed markers). The data of Fig. 8 and all subsequent
discussion regarding the loss coefficient refers to the regime prior
to the point of critical cavitation where the loss coefficient is a
constant value. Data from Testud et al. [2] Kolodzie and Van
Winkle [13], and Tullis [11] are also shown for comparison and
all data correspond to nonchamfered holes. The data of Testud
et al. [2] (two data points) were acquired with a single hole orifice
plate of t/d ¼ 0.64 and a multihole plate (47 holes) at the same
nominal Ah/Ap value. The data of Tullis [11] were acquired with a
thin single hole orifice with t/d ! 0 and all of the data of Kolodzie
and Van Winkle [13] (28 data points) were acquired using multi-
holed plates of varying t/d. Also shown on the figure are the two
theoretical models that were developed in Sec. 2. Recall that KLA-
corresponds to a model that assumes that the plate is thick enough
for the flow to reattach after the formation of the vena-contracta
and KLD is based on a model that assumes the plate is thin so that
the flow does not reattach. The KLh data shown correspond to flow
velocities prior to the point of critical cavitation and as discussed
above, for a given plate, is constant prior to this point.
Fig. 8 Loss coefficient, KLh, versus the total through area ra-
tio, Ah/Ap, for 16 perforated plates. Included are the theoretical
attached model, KLA, and a theoretical detached model, KLD.
Data from Kolodzie and Van Winkle [13], Testud et al. [2], and
Tullis [11] are also included for comparison.
Transactions of the ASME
 The data of Fig. 8 reveal several important points. First, all of
our data and the data from the other investigators are bounded by
the two analytical models (KLA and KLD) and follow the general
trend exhibited by them of decreasing KLh with increasing Ah/Ap.
Of course in the limiting case as Ah/Ap ! 1, KLh is due only to
frictional losses. a is defined for KLA, as a ¼ 0.75, since this is the
value that matches the lower bound on the data. In general, a must
lie between 0.61 and 1.0 [7] and a value of 0.75 is reasonable. Fur-
thermore, the value a ¼ 0.75 allows a normalization to be formed
that yields an excellent collapse of the data for all studies con-
tained in Fig. 8 and is the main reason for use of this value. This
will be discussed further below. For the KLD model, a is deter-
mined from a theoretical implicit relation of Busemann [19],
which relates a to Ah/Ap for an ideal thin sharp edge orifice plate.
This relation is given in Eq. (14).
    !  
1 2 Ap 1 Ap 2 Ap
¼1 1 a tan1 a (14)
a p Ah a Ah Ah
The single hole orifice data of Tullis [11] show very good agree-
ment with the KLD model for all Ah/Ap and over the range of Ah/Ap
from 0 to 0.6, a as determined from Eq. (14) varies from 0.61 to
0.66. The Tullis data is greater than all data for all other plates,
which exhibit larger thickness to diameter ratio. All other data
reveal that at fixed Ah/Ap the loss coefficient exhibits large varia-
tion between the bounds of KLA and KLD, due to variations in the
thickness of the plate, and presumably the degree of reattachment
and the magnitude of the jet contraction a. All previous studies
addressing flow through perforated plates that the authors are
aware of consider only plates of relatively small free-area ratio.
The data of Ref. [13], which represents the largest previous explo-
ration of loss at perforated plates, are limited to the range
Ah/Ap < 0.16, while the range explored here spans up to Ah/Ap
 0.61 and provides insight into the overall KLh variation that has
been previously unknown.
The dependency of KLh on t/d at fixed Ah/Ap is quantified in
Fig. 9, where KLh is shown as a function t/d. Data are shown at
nominally constant values of Ah/Ap  0.11, 0,22, 0.44, and 0.61
from the present study, and at Ah/Ap  0.05 and 0.14 from the
data of Ref. [13]. The data of Fig. 9 show that for a given free-
area ratio, KLh decreases steeply with increasing t/d over the range
0  t/d  1.5. At t/d  1.5; however, KLh increases slightly with
continued increase in t/d. The large decrease of KLh in the
t/d  1.5 range illustrates that the loss coefficient is approaching
the theoretical thick plate model, KLA. Thus, the vertical spread in
the data of Fig. 8 at a fixed Ah/Ap value appears to be caused by
the flow transitioning from a detached type of flow condition at
Fig. 9 KLh as a function of the thickness ratio, t/d, for 16 perfo-
rated plates and nominal free-area ratios of 0.11, 0.22, 0.44, and
0.0.61. Data from Kolodzie and Van Winkle [13] are also shown
at nominal free-area ratios of 0.05 and 0.14.
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small t/d towards an attached state at t/d  1.5. The slight increase
in KLh above t/d  1.5 is believed to be due to frictional losses
within the perforation holes.
Figures 8 and 9 together illustrate that the loss coefficient
exhibits complex dependency upon both the through area ratio as
was expected, and upon the t/d ratio. This dependency leads to an
important implication related to system design. Losses are mini-
mized by increasing the free-area ratio and by increasing the
thickness to diameter ratio up to t/d  1.5. This fact illustrates
that increasing the number of holes while maintaining the same
Ah/Ap ratio causes a suppression of the pressure loss. At constant
Ah/Ap and plate thickness, the total loss through the plate will be
decreased by employing more small diameter holes compared to
fewer larger diameter holes.
It is interesting to note that at small t/d (0.5) where the plate
may still be considered thin and reattachment is not expected, the
decrease in KLh is likely due to an increase in a and a concomitant
decrease in the size of the recirculation eddies and accompanying
pressure loss. Indeed, if one employs the detached model devel-
oped previously (KLD—Eq. (9)), the value of a for each scenario
may be estimated. As t/d increases from 0.33 to 0.5 the Kolodzie
and Van Winkle [13] data suggest increases in a from 0.63 to 0.67
and 0.64 to 0.69 for the Ah/Ap  0.05 and 0.14 data, respectively.
At t/d > 1.0 the data of Fig. 9 suggest reattachment has occurred
since the variation in KLh with increasing t/d becomes small.
We now present a generalized model based on the data to allow
general prediction of the loss coefficient for thin or thick plates.
Shown in Fig. 10 is the ratio KLh/KLA as a function of the combina-
 1=5
tion variable, / ¼ ðt=d Þ Ah =Ap . / was determined from statisti-
cal analysis of the data for the present 16 plates and includes both
Ah/Ap and t/d influences. Also shown in Fig. 10 is a piecewise model
that trends through all of the data and is given below in Eq. (15).
(
KLh 2:9  3:65/ þ 1:75/2 ; /  0:95
¼ Fð/Þ ¼ (15)
KLA 0:932 þ 0:078/; / > 0:95
Plotted versus / the KLh/KLA data demonstrate a remarkable
collapse. It should be noted that Eq. (15) was developed based on
our present data only. However, the data of Refs. [2], [11], and
[13], are also shown in Fig. 10, and show excellent agreement and
collapse with our data and the behavior predicted by Eq. (15). The
t/d ratio of the data of Tullis [11] was not reported, other than it
was stated that the plate was knife-edge thin at the hole; thus we
have assumed /  0 for it. The data of Fig. 9 illustrate more
clearly the existence two flow regimes. Between 0  /  0.95 the
flow through the vena-contracta is transitioning from detached to
attached behavior and the increasing loss with decreasing / is
attributed to the increased turbulence and flow separation caused
Fig. 10 Ratio of the actual loss coefficient over the theoretical
loss coefficient, KLh/KLA as a function of the parameter / for all
perforated plates considered in this study. Data from Refs. [2],
[11], and [13], are also shown.
MARCH 2013, Vol. 135 / 031302-7
 by the flow not reattaching. Above / ¼ 0.95, the flow is attached
and the slightly increasing loss with increased / is attributed to
the friction within the perforation hole. The nature of what
appears to be a generalized data collapse of Fig. 10 has never
been reported before in the literature, likely due to the absence of
data at higher t/d. Because the loss coefficient is nominally con-
stant up to the point of cavitation inception (provided Reh > 3000
[13]), Eq. (15) can be used to predict the loss coefficient for any
perforated (singe or multiholed) plate over the range 0  /  3.0.
The loss coefficient can subsequently be used in predicting cavita-
tion inception, as discussed in the next section.

4.2 Inception and Critical Cavitation Points. This section

of the paper addresses the cavitation number at the point of cavita-
tion inception and critical cavitation. Figure 11 shows the rms of
the pipe wall acceleration, A0 , as a function of the average velocity
through the perforation holes for the same 6 plates of Fig. 7. As
evident by its definition (Eq. (1)), r varies inversely with KLh and
Vh (r ¼ 2ðP2  Pv Þ=qVh2 KLh ). The data of Fig. 11 illustrates the
three regimes described in the previous descriptions of Figs. 2 and
6. This behavior prevails for the data of all six plates shown in
Fig. 11 and for all 14 plates explored where cavitation occurred.
In general, A0 increases with increasing hole velocity (decreasing
r) and at points of cavitation inception and critical cavitation the
slope of the A0 versus Vh data changes markedly. It is the point of
occurrence of cavitation inception and critical cavitation that is of
interest in this section. Considering the four plates with Ah/Ap 
0.44, the average hole velocity at the points of cavitation inception
and critical cavitation increase with decreasing hole size. Further-
more, the data show that for a constant hole size of d  0.5 cm,
that these two critical points increase with increasing Ah/Ap. Here-
after, we choose to identify these critical points in terms of the
corresponding nondimensional r values instead of the dimen-
Fig. 12 Incipient (top) and critical (bottom) cavitation numbers
sional average hole velocities, recognizing the inverse relation as a function of t/d for 14 perforated plates at three nominal
between r and velocity. free-area ratios as shown in the legend. Data of Tullis [11] for a
Shown in Fig. 12 are the incipient (ri—top panel) and critical single hole orifice are also shown.
(rc—bottom panel) cavitation numbers as a function t/d for the 14
different plates of this study where cavitation was occurring for
ues of pressure loss across the plate. For a fixed t/d, Ah/Ap can be
nominal free-area ratios of 0.11, 0.22, and 0.44. Also shown are
varied by simultaneously varying the number of perforation holes
values from Tullis [11] for “knife-edge” single hole orifice plates
and the plate thickness. Thus, at fixed t/d, increasing the number of
where t/d ! 0 for Ah/Ap  0.22 and 0.44. The data of Tullis show
holes in the plate leads to an earlier onset of incipient and critical
good agreement with the trends and magnitude of our data. In gen-
cavitation (larger ri and rc). Interestingly, at Ah/Ap  0.11 the criti-
eral, the ri and rc data exhibit similar variation with t/d, with ri
cal cavitation number exhibits little variation with t/d, while the de-
being modestly greater as required.
pendency is stronger for the 0.22 and 0.44 area ratios.
The data of Fig. 12 reveal that as Ah/Ap increases, for a fixed t/d,
At fixed Ah/Ap, ri increases initially with increasing t/d up to a
incipient and critical cavitation occurs at increased values of r.
maximum dependent on Ah/Ap, but then decreases with further
Increasing ri generally signifies cavitation occurring at lower val-
increases in t/d. For fixed Ah/Ap, increasing t/d corresponds to
more and smaller holes if the plate thickness remains constant, or
to an increasing plate thickness if the hole count is fixed. Thus, at
small t/d (less than 0.5–1.0), increasing the plate thickness or the
number of perforation holes has the same impact; an increase in ri
and rc. Conversely at large t/d (greater than 1.0), increasing the
plate thickness or the number of perforation holes results in a
decrease in ri and rc with the onset of cavitation delayed.
Comparison of the results of Fig. 12 with the loss coefficient
data (Figs. 7–9) reveals that ri and rc exhibit somewhat opposite
dependency on t/d compared to the loss coefficient. The loss coef-
ficient decreases with increasing t/d until t/d  1, after which it
then slightly increased with increasing t/d due to frictional losses.
Conversely, the incipient and critical cavitation points occur at
increasing cavitation numbers with increasing t/d, until t/d  1,
where they then decrease with further increases in t/d. This behav-
ior is consistent with the regime where the KLh data suggest the
jets are transitioning from a detached to an attached state in the
perforation holes as t/d increases. The loss coefficient also
decreases with increasing Ah/Ap and fixed t/d, whereas the ri and
rc points are at increasing values with increasing Ah/Ap.
Fig. 11 A0 as a function of Vh for six perforated plates as ri and rc are important design points in systems where cavita-
described in the figure legend tion prevails and the relation between these values and the

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 Fig. 13 Incipient (top) and critical (bottom) cavitation number
as a function of discharge coefficient for 14 multiholed perfo-
rated plates. Data of Testud et al. [2] and Tullis [11] are also
shown for comparison.
discharge coefficient are now explored. Recall that Cd is inversely
related to the loss coefficient as shown in Eq. (5). Shown in Fig. 13
are ri (top panel) and rc (bottom panel) as a function of the plate
discharge coefficient. Data from Testud et al. [2] for a single hole
orifice plate and a thick multiholed plate are also shown, in addition
to single hole orifice plate data from Tullis [11].
The ri and rc data from the present experiments follow the
same general trend as the single hole data of Tullis, with increas-
ing Cd leading to an increase in both ri and rc. As illustrated by
the data, ri is greater than rc at all discharge coefficients, as
required (cavitation inception occurring at lower velocity). At low
values of Cd, all of the multiholed ri data show excellent agree-
ment with the single hole data of Tullis [11] and Testud et al. [2].
However, as Cd increases above a value of nominally 0.2, greater
deviation exists. Also, at Cd < 0.1, both ri and rc increase sharply
with increasing Cd, whereas at Cd > 0.1 the increase is more grad-
ual. The present perforated plate data that show the greatest depar-
ture from the single hole data correspond to the plates with the
largest t/d, where for a given discharge (or loss) coefficient
increased t/d results in lower values of ri and rc. From a practical
point of view, the implication is that increasing the thickness to
diameter ratio for fixed loss coefficient delays the onset of both in-
cipient and critical cavitation, generally a desirable result in sys-
tem design. Recall from the previous section that increasing the
t/d ratio also acts to decrease the overall loss coefficient up to t/d
 1.0, although minimizing loss is often not the primary purpose
of a perforated plate type application.
The plates from this study that had the smallest t/d form the
upper bound of the data of Fig. 13 and track closely the results of
Tullis [11], which correspond to a very thin orifice plate. This is
an important result and confirms that with regard to the points of
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Fig. 14 r*i (top) and rc* (bottom) as a function of discharge
coefficient for 14 multiholed perforated plates. Data of Testud
et al. [2] and Tullis [11] are also shown for comparison.
cavitation inception and critical cavitation that multihole plates
show similar behavior (at the same discharge coefficient) as
single-hole orifice plates when the plates are thin. Based on lim-
ited previous data, it was suggested by Tullis [11] that ri and rc
for multiholed plates can be predicted by determining the corre-
sponding Cd value and considering the plate to be a single-holed.
Our present data reveals that while this approach may be accepta-
ble for t/d ratios smaller than 1.0 and at small Cd, at t/d greater
than 1.0, the deviation of ri and rc from single-hole behavior
becomes significant. Consequently, approximating a multiholed
plate as a single hole plate is discouraged for t/d > 1.0, as reflected
by our results shown in Fig. 13 at t/d  1.6 and 3.2.
As noted in the discussion related to Fig. 13, the largest contrib-
uting variable to the variation of the data in Fig. 12 is the t/d ratio.
Thus we introduce a correction factor to account for the variability
in ri and rc with t/d and propose modified cavitation numbers as
ri ¼ ri =ð1  0:1t=dÞ (16)
rc ¼ rc =ð1  0:1t=dÞ (17)
The constant factor 0.1 is used because it yields the best self-
collapse of our data and Eqs. (16) and (17) are appropriate for all
perforated plates considered in this study.
Shown in Fig. 14 are the data of Fig. 13 recast in terms of ri
and rc as a function of Cd. In this form, the ri and rc data each
collapse to a nearly single representative curve, while also show-
ing good agreement with the data of Tullis [11] and Testud et al.
[2]. The significance of the collapse is that the data represents per-
forated plates with hole number ranging from 1 to 1800, for free-
area ratios ranging from 0.07 to 0.64, and for plate thickness to
MARCH 2013, Vol. 135 / 031302-9
 hole diameter ratios ranging from very small up to 3.5, although decrease from their maximum values. For all t/d, increases in the
the data are limited to plates with nonchamfered holes. Further- free area ratio lead to increases in the inception and critical cavita-
more, at least over the range of parameters we have explored, the tion numbers, while the loss coefficient decreases. An empirical
ri and rc data do not exhibit dependency on the Reynolds num- model was presented that allows determination of the loss coeffi-
ber. Shown in Eqs. (18) and (19) are least squares fits to the data cient in terms of the plate geometric parameters and is valid for
of Fig. 14 and the equations are also shown graphically on the perforated plates with total hole number in the range considered
figure. here (4–1800). In general the manner the critical cavitation num-
bers and the loss coefficient vary with the plate thickness to hole
ri ¼ 50:2C3d  53:1C2d þ 25:5Cd  0:31 (18) diameter and the flow area to pipe area ratios are opposite. Empir-
ical models to allow prediction of the point of cavitation inception
rc ¼ 23:5C3d  29:6C2d þ 17:9Cd  0:30 (19) and the point where critical cavitation begins are also presented.
The models presented herein allow a system designer to design a
Equations (18) and (19) exhibit good agreement with the data and system incorporating perforated plate type geometries to meet
allow straightforward estimation of the points of cavitation incep- specific pressure loss requirements while avoiding operation in a
tion and critical cavitation in terms of the discharge coefficient for cavitating flow regime.
any sharp-edge perforated plate. It should be noted that while
these fit-equations provide general good agreement with the data,
they do not capture the sharp rise in ri and rc that prevails in
Acknowledgment
range 0.07  Cd  0.1. Otherwise, they are recommended for gen- The authors acknowledge Control Components Inc. for their
eral use. These empirical expressions can be implemented during support of this work.
system design to evaluate whether or not cavitation will exist at
specified flow conditions, and the design can then be adjusted Nomenclature
accordingly. How this would be done in practice is discussed A0 ¼ rms of pipe wall acceleration (m/s2)
below. Ah ¼ total flow hole area, pNd2/4 (m2)
In practical system design, perforated plates are implemented to Aj ¼ total area of vena-contract jets (m2)
yield a specific pressure drop (pressure let-down) at a given flow Ap ¼ pipe cross-section area (m2)
rate to meet system needs. Thus, P1 – P2 and the volumetric flow Cd ¼ discharge coefficient
rate are specified quantities. By specifying a diameter the designer CV A ¼ control volume for region A
in essence also fixes the design average pipe velocity. The loss CV B ¼ control volume for region B
coefficient for the perforated plate is determined from Eq. (4) to D¼ pipe diameter (m)
meet system pressure let-down requirements at the design point. d¼ perforation hole diameter (m)
Combining Eqs. (12), (13), and (15) yields the following expres- KLh ¼ loss coefficient based on Vh, 2ðP1  P2 Þ=qVh2
sion for the pipe loss coefficient in terms of the free-area and the KLp ¼ loss coefficient based on Vp, 2ðP1  P2 Þ=qVp2
plate thickness to hole diameter ratios. KLA ¼ theoretical loss coefficient for a thick plate based on Vh
"      # KLD ¼ theoretical loss coefficient for a thin plate based on Vh
Ap 2 2 1 Ap N¼ number of perforation holes
KLp ¼ 2 þ 2 2 þ 1 Fð/Þ (20) le ¼ length of the developing section (m)
Ah a a Ah
P1 ¼ upstream static pressure (Pa)
P2 ¼ downstream static pressure (Pa)
F(/) is given by Eq. (15) and depends on whether the plate is thin P2i ¼ downstream static pressure at cavitation inception (Pa)
or thick as discussed in Sec. 4.1 and a ¼ 0.75. t/d and Ah/Ap are Pj ¼ jet pressure (Pa)
then chosen to match KLp for the perforated plate with the design Pv ¼ vapor pressure (Pa)
system value. The discharge coefficient can then be readily deter- ReD ¼ Reynolds number, qVhD/l
mined from Eq. (5) once KLp is known. Subsequently, Eqs. (18) t¼ plate thickness (m)
and (16) can be used to find the inception cavitation number, ri. Vh ¼ average perforation hole velocity (m/s)
From the ri value the pipe velocity where cavitation inception Vp ¼ average pipe fluid velocity (m/s)
starts can be determined from Vp ¼ average pipe fluid velocity at cavitation inception (m/s)
sffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Vj ¼ average jet velocity (m/s)
2ðP2  Pv Þ a¼ vena-contracta contraction ratio, Aj/Ah
Vpi ¼ (21) /¼ (t/d)(Aj/Ah)1/5
ri qKLp
q¼ fluid density (kg/m3)
r¼ cavitation number, ðP2  Pv Þ=ðP1  P2 Þ
The velocity value determined from Eq. (21) can then be com- rc ¼ critical cavitation number
pared to the design pipe velocity to see if changes to the system rch ¼ choked cavitation number
pipe diameter or perforated plate characteristics need to change to ri ¼ incipient cavitation number
avoid operation in a cavitation regime. In a similar manner the ve- rv ¼ cavitation number, 2ðP2  Pv Þ=qVp2
locity where critical cavitation will occur for a given perforated r*c ¼ rc/(1 – 0.1t/d)
plate can be estimated using Eqs. (19) and (17). r*i ¼ ri/(1 – 0.1t/d)

References
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and plate thickness to hole diameter ratio. The results reveal the
dependence of the loss coefficient and the critical cavitation num-
bers on the plate geometry. For a fixed flow area to pipe area ratio,
the loss coefficient is a minimum and the cavitation numbers are
maximum in the vicinity of t/d  1. As t/d ! 0 the loss coefficient
increases dramatically, while the critical cavitation numbers
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