KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING MECHANICAL ENGIEERING LAB III ME 395
TITLE: CALIBRATION OF A VENTURIMETER

Group 20 Name Index No.

AGBAVOR DANIEL ATSU YAO MAMUD MUSTAPHA COFIE FREDERICK CARLTON AFRIEYIE-DUAH SAMUEL

4835510 4841910 4838710 4835410

03th October, 2012

INTRODUCTION In industrial processing plants, it is often important to measure and control the pressure or liquid level in a vessel. It is also necessary to measure the rate of fluid flow. The devices used to perform these measurements include pitot meter, orifice meter and venture meter. The venture tube is a device used for measuring the rate of flow along a pipe. A fluid moving through it accelerates in the direction of the tapering contraction with an increase in the velocity in a throat. This is accompanied by a fall in pressure, the magnitude of which depends on the rate of flow. The flow rate may therefore be inferred from the difference in pressure as measured by piezometers placed upstream at the throat.

OBJECTIVE The objective of the experiment is to;

Obtain the calibration curve for the meter Investigate the variation in pressure at inlet and throat at various rates of flow Present the results in a non-dimensional form so that they could be used to estimate the flow through any similar meter.

THEORY

A1 = the area of the inlet, mm2. A2 = the area of the throat, mm2. h = h1 h2, the difference of pressure at the inlet and throat, mm.

Qt = the volumetric flow rate, L/s.

By the continuity equation for the approach and throat sections: Either V1 or V2 can be solved for in terms of the other; for example:

Substituting this result into the energy equation results in:

Solving for the head difference gives:

Solving for V12:

Taking the square root of both sides and multiplying both sides by A1 results in the theoretical discharge equation:

To obtain actual discharge, a coefficient, Cd, added to compensate for velocity distribution and for minor losses not accounted for in the energy equation yields:

Some investigators solve for discharge using throat area and velocity, resulting in:

Accordingly the Piezometer Head Coefficient is Cph = hn h1 (n = 2,3,.)..1 V22/2g

The ideal distribution of Cph along a venturi meter ( in terms of its geometry ) is given. Cph = ( A2 / A1)2 (A2 / An)2 Cph = ( D2 / D1 )4 (D2 / Dn )4

APPARATUS

Venturi meter which consist of piezometers, water reservoir and hose, which are used to perform the experiment Stop watch for timing the fluid flow

PROCEDURE

The apparatus was leveled by opening both the Bench supply valve and the control valve downstream of the meter to allow water to flow and clear air pockets from the supply base.

The control valve was then gradually closed causing water to rise up in the tubes of the manometer thereby compressing the air contained in the manifold.

The Bench valve was also gradually closed so that as both valves were finally shut off the meter was left containing static water (Colored water is used to aid visibility) at moderate pressure when the water level have risen to a convenient height.

The adjust screws were operated to give identical readings for all the tubes across the whole width of the manometer board. The levels of water was taken at the eye level to avoid parallax.

The first reading with the maximum possible valve, h2 h1 was obtained by gradually opening both the bench valve and the control valve in turn.

Either valve was opened successively to increase both the flow and the difference between h1 and h2.

The rate flow was then found by timing the collection of a known amount of water in the weighing tank whilst valves of h1 and h2 were read from the manometer.

Readings were then taken over a series of reducing valves of (h1 h2) which were spread over available range from 250mm to zero in decreasing order of 20.

DATA

Recorded experimental values EXPT h1/mm h2/mm (h1h2)/mm 20 42 64 88 110 130 158 180 200 224 time/s V/m^3 Q/m^3/s 192.13 103.10 70.94 62.44 55.00 48.06 45.22 41.43 38.06 35.97 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015
7.80721E-05 1.4549E-04 2.1145E-04 2.4023E-04 2.7272E-04 3.1211E-04 3.3171E-04 3.6206E-04 3.9411E-04 4.1701E-04

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

250 252 254 258 260 260 268 270 270 274

230 210 190 170 150 130 110 90 70 50

Parameters of the venture meter used. Piezometer Reference Diameter(mm ) Area (mm2) 530.9 0 422.7 0 265.9 0 201.1 0 221.4 0 267.9 0 319.2 0 374.6 0 434.8 0 499.2 0 530.9 0 26.00 23.20 18.40 16.00 16.79 18.47 20.16 21.84 23.53 25.21 26.0 A B C D E F G H J K L

Distance from datum (mm)

-54.0

-34.0

-22.0

-8.00

7.00

22.00

37.00

52.00

67.00

82.00

102.0 0

ANALYSIS

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS:

Determination of discharge flow rate

For t =192.13s, volume of water = 0.015m3

7.8072E-05m3/s

For t = 93s, volume of water = 0.015m3

1.4549E-04m3/s

Determination of Cd and Re, let Q = Qa

From the venture meter parameters, the area of A, A1 = 0.0005309m2 The area of D. A2 = 0.0002011m2 h1 - h2 = 20mm = 0.02m Q=7.80721E-05 m3/s Substituting the values into the equation, Cd = 0.26278

h1-h2/m 0.020 0.042 0.064 0.088 0.110 0.130 0.158 0.180 0.200 0.224

V/m^3 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015 0.015

Q/m^3/s
7.80721E-05 1.4549E-04 2.1145E-04 2.4023E-04 2.7272E-04 3.1211E-04 3.3171E-04 3.6206E-04 3.9411E-04 4.1701E-04

Cd 0.26278 0.70962 1.27311 1.69605 2.15270 2.67825 3.13804 3.65585 4.19473 4.69723

1. Calculation of the ideal distribution of

along the venturi meter

Cph = ( A2 / A1)2 (A2 / An)2 For A, For B,

( ( ) ) ( ( ) )

Calculations for the other tubes are tabulated in table A 2. Calculation of according to the piezometer head coefficient

Minimum discharge (MiD); From equation 1; For A ,

For B, Calculations for the other tubes are tabulated in table A

Medium discharge (MeD); From equation 1; For A, For B,

Calculations for the other tubes are tabulated in table A Maximum discharge (MaD); From equation 1; For B, Calculations for the other tubes are tabulated in table A Table A A MiD 0 B C D E F G H J -0.17131 K -0.086 -0.12 -0.111 -0.019 L 0 -0.08565 -0.08565 0

-0.086 -0.343 -0.857 -0.7709 -0.514 -0.428 -0.3 -0.017 -0.343 -0.856 -0.7537 -0.48

MeD 0 MaD 0 Ideal 0

-0.325 -0.223 -0.15418

-0.009 -0.343 -0.857 -0.7281 -0.463 -0.317 -0.223 -0.15418 -0.083 -0.429 -0.857 -0.6815 -0.42 -0.253 -0.145 -0.07043

GRAPHS

GRAPH OF Cd AGAINST Q

5
GRAPH OF ( h1

4.5 4 3.5 3 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0.00E+000 1.00E-004 2.00E-004 3.00E-004 4.00E-004 5.00E-004

- h2)
AGAINS TQ

0.25

0.2

0.15

0.1

0.05

0 0.00E+000

1.00E-004

2.00E-004

3.00E-004

4.00E-004

5.00E-004

DISCUSSION From the graph plotted for Cd VS. Q: The flow rate depends on the velocity of the water. The flow rate Q, of the water varies with velocity change. The calibration curve thus obtained shows Cd varying with the velocity due to the change in diameter of the venturi meter The graph of the differential head: The differential head varies linearly with the flow rate, hence the greater the differential head the higher the flow rate as can be seen from the graph. Comparing the pressure of the water before and after entering the constriction, it can be seen that the pressure of the water before it entered the constriction of the venturi meter was greater than the pressure after leaving. This could be due to frictional losses in the constriction. Although the venturi meter is designed to minimize these losses, it does just that; it cannot totally eliminate the losses and there is a degree of loss. Fluctuating levels of the water in the piezometer affected readings. Occurrence of parallax errors in reading piezometer levels.

CONCLUSION From the experiment and calculations performed, the calibration curve for the venturi meter was obtained. It has been established that the pressure of the water in the venturi meter varies linearly with the flow rate of water. The graphs plotted can be used to estimate the flow rate in any similar meter.

ANSWER TO POST-LAB QUESTION If the venturi meter were vertical there would be no correction needed to be made to the piezometer because the angle between the upstream and downstream cone will still be the same. This means there will be no effect and there would be no correction necessary. The discharge depends upon the gauge meter regardless of the orientation of the venturi meter, whether it is vertical, horizontal, or inclined. This is evident in equation (8) because it is independent of elevation as here is no term of Z1 and Z2 (orientation) so that the manometer reading h or a given flow rate Q is not affected by the inclination of the meter.

REFERENCES Robertson John A. and Crowe Clayton T., Basic Fluid Mechanics, TC162, 1973, pp. 11-15 Holman, J. P., Experimental Methods for Engineers, 6th ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, 1994, pp.7-11, 260261 and 264-277