FLOW

MEASUREMENT

WHY MEASUREMENT

Gas sales

Reservoir engineering calculation

Pipe line flows

Plant applications

FLUID

A substance that can easily change its shape

such as liquid or gas.

TYPES OF FLUIDS
There are two types of fluids
Compressible fluid
Fluids in gas phase ,gases occupy different volume
at different pressure
Incompressible fluids
Fluids in liquid phase same volume at different
pressure

FLOW

Quantity of fluid delivered in unit time through

a pipe, conduit etc.
Flow = Quantity of fluid/ time

Flow is measured as a quantity either volume or

mass
Volumetric Flow rate = Velocity x Area
Q

= U x A

Mass Flow rate = Velocity x Area x Density

Q
= U x A x d

UNIT

Unit of measurement of gas is MMSCFD

M stands for

MM 1000x1000=1000000=million

for

CF

for cubic feet

for

thousand (1000 )

Standard

day

Unit for measurement of heating or energy value

of gas is MMBTU(million British thermal unit)

TYPES OF FLOW

Laminar or smooth flow:

-Constant,smooth fluid motion

- Occurs at low velocities
-Occurs at low Renoyld no.

Turbulant Flow:

-Occurs at high velocities.

-Swirls ,eddies makes flow turbulant.
-Occurs at high Reynold no.

REYNOLD NUMBER

Osborne Reynold (1883) found

Re= inertial forces /Viscous forces

Inertial forces=velocity and density that keeps the

body in motion
Viscous forces=Frictional forces that slow down
the fluid motion

If Re < 2000, the flow will be laminar.

If Re > 4000, the flow will be turbulent.
If 2000<Re<4000, the flow is transitional
The Reynolds number is a good guide to the type
of flow

TYPES OF FLOW METERS

Head type meters(orifice,venturi,pitot tube)

Variable area meter(rotameter)

Electromagnetic meters

Mechanical type

Anemometers

Vortex flow meter

Ultrasonic flow meter

ORIFICE METER

Professor Robinson (1890)

Head type flow meter used for large and medium
pipes
Orifice plate- inserted to pipe to create a partial
restriction to flow
Produce a pressure difference when fluid is
maintained through them
Uses Bernoulli equation(by increaing

fluid speed ,pressure decrease)

PRINCIPLE

Pressure before plate rises and pressure after it

decreases but velocity increases. Pressure
continues to drop until the vena contracta is
reached.( vena contracta max. velocity and
minimum pressure pt.)

Material used for plate is stainless steel, bronze

and gun metal etc
AGA (American Gas Association) -3 standard

TYPES OF ORIFICE PLATES

There are three types of orifice plates
Concentric
used for clear fluids
Eccentric
used for fluid contains suspended
material
Segmental
used for dirty fluid, slurries and
fluid containing solids

ADVANTAGES :

Simple
Cheap
Accurate
Used for liquids and gases
Standards are well established and
comprehensive
Wide range of flow rates

DISADVANTAGE

causes pressure drop

Affected by upstream swirls

Requires single phase flow

Requires turbulent flow profile( Renoylds No

greater than 4000)

ORIFICE METER APPARATUS

Components used in orifice meters are
Orifice plate holder
Orifice plate
Meter run for orifice ( Normally 20 D for upstream
and 5D at downstream)
Chart recorder

TYPES OF PLATE HOLDERS

Junior Orifice Fitting

Gas flow has to be stopped while changing the

orifice plate ( single chamber)

Senior Orifice Fitting

Orifice plate can be changed while the gas is

flowing.(double chamber)

ORIFICE PLATE TAP

LOCATIONS

Differential pressure is measured through

pressure taps located on each side of orifice
plate.
Flange taps

1 inch from upstream face of orifice plate and 1

inch from down stream.
Widely used.

Pipe taps

2.5 pipe diameter at upstream and 8 pipe dia at

downstream

Vena contracta taps

Corner taps

ORIFICE GAS FLOW EQUATION

= C ( hw Pf)

Q = Volume flow rate in cubic feet / hr at base conditions.

( pressure 14.7 psia & temperature is 60 F are base
conditions)

hw

= Differential pressure in inches of water at 60 F (1

psi=27.4 inch of water)

Pf
= Static pressure in psia

C
= Orifice flow constant
= Fb x Fr x Y x Fpb x Ftb x Ftf x Fg x
Fa x Fm x Fl

Fpv x

Fb

Base Orifice factor

Fr

Reynolds number factor

Expansion factor

Fpb

Pressure base factor

Ftb

Temperature base factor

Fg

Real gas relative density factor

Fpv

Super compressibility factor

Ftf

Flowing temperature factor

Fa

Orifice thermal expansion factor

Fm

Manometer factor( for mercury

Manometer)

Fl

Gauge location factor

BASIC ORIFICE FACTOR Fb:

The

Fb is taken directly from table for the correct

orifice and pipe size.
For sizes not listed in table,Fb can be calculated
from analytical equation as;

Fb
=
338.17 d Ko Tb/Pb 1/TfG
Where,

d
=
Actual diameter of the Orifice in inches
Ko
= Coefficient of discharge for an infinite
Reynolds number.
And
Ko
=
Ke / 1 + 15E / 1,000,000d

E= d(830 500 + 9000 - 42000 + B )

B

=
=

530 / D ( For Flange Tapes)

The actual internal pipe diameter in

D
inches
Ke
= 0.5993 + 0.007 / D + [ 0.364 + 0.076 / D ]
4 + 0.4 [ 1.6 1 / D ]5x
[(0.07 + 0.5/D ] 5/2
[0.009 + 0.034 / D ] [0.5 ] 3/2 + [ 65 / D + 3 ] [
0.7 ]5/2 (For Flange Taps)

REYNOLDS NUMBER FACTOR, Fr:

The

Reynolds number factor Fr is applied to

correct the calculated basic orifice factor to the
actual flowing Reynolds number. Fr is calculated as:

Fr =
1 + b /hw Pf

Value of b is obtained by using table 5.

EXPANSION FACTOR, Y:
When

a gas flows through an orifice, the change in

velocity and pressure is accompanied by a change
in density and a factor must be allowed to the
coefficient to allow for this change. This factor
known as expansion factor.

Values of the expansion factor Y can be obtained

from table or can be calculated using analytical
equation
Y= 1+X2 (.41+0.35 4 )X2/K 1+X2 for flange taps
provided that static pressure is taken at the
downstream taps

K=Ratio of specific heat =1.3

X2= hw/27.70Pf

PRESSURE BASE FACTOR, Fpb :

The

pressure base factor Fpb corrects for case

where the base (standard) pressure Pb in psia, at
which flow is to be measured, is other than 14.73
psia

Fpb
= 14.73 / Pb
Pb=

contract/base pressure ( psia)

Fpb is obtained from Table 12.

TEMPERATURE BASE FACTOR, Ftb :

The

temperature base factor Ftb is applied where

the base temperature is other than 60F and is
calculated as

Ftb
=
Tb(F)+460 / 520
Ftb is obtained from table .

FLOWING TEMPERTURE FACTOR, Ftf

The

flowing temperature factor Ftf is required to

change from the assumed flowing temperature of
60F to actual flowing temperature Tf (R)

Ftf
=
60+460/Tf+460

SPECIFIC GRAVITY FACTOR, Fg:

The

specific gravity ) factor Fgr is applied to

change from a real gas density of 1.0 to the specific
gravity of flowing gas .
Fg

= 1/G

Value of G can be obtained from table.

SUPERCOMPRESSIBILITY

FACTOR

FPV:

Super compressibility factor is required to correct

for deviation from ideal gas law.

Fpv
= (1 / Z)

Where, Z =
Gas deviation Factor
By calculating adjusted pressure and adjusted
temp,Fpv can be determined by table 16.
Adjusted pressure=Pf x Fp psig
Fp= 156.47/160.8-7.22G+Kp

Where

Kp=Mc-0.392Mn

Mc= Mole % CO2

= Sp.gravity
Mn= Mole % N2

Adjusted temperature= TfFt-460 F

Ft= 226.29/99.15+211.9G-Kt

Kt=Mc+1.681 Mn

At ambient temp. compressibility affects by

volume 0.5 %/100 psi .

ORIFICE THERMAL EXPANSION FACTOR

Fa

The

orifice thermal expansion factor is introduced to

correct the error resulting from expansion or contraction of
the orifice operating at temperature appreciably different
from the temperature at which the orifice was bored. The
factor may be calculated from the following equation.

Fa
=
1 + [0.0000185 (Tf 68)] for stainless steel
304,316
Fa
=
1 + [0.0000159 (Tf 68)] for Monel
Tf
=
Flowing temperature of the gas at the orifice in
F
Generally ignored between 0~120 F.
Generally

ignored between 0 ~ 120F

MANOMETER FACTOR Fm :

It is only for mercury manometer.

From Table 17 it can be dtermined.