Experiment 10

Flow Characteristics of Valves

Introduction
Learning outcomes
The student should be able to describe the operation of various types of valve and be able to measure friction losses due to flows through different valves and to be able to identify sources of error in this experiment.

Theory
Valves allow flows in systems to controlled or turned fully on and off the aim of this experiment to determine how each type of valve available to us behaved in controlling flow rates. In order to measure the flow rates, a manometer was attached to the pipes before and after the orifice plate. The orifice plate was put in place to increase the flow rate of the air through the pipes by forcing the air through a gap smaller than the cross sectional area of the pipes, the tapered side was faced downstream and the sharp side upstream. Once the two heights of the water in the manometer were measured and the process repeated mean values of the two heights were calculated using

From the calculated H1 Average and H2 Average , H can be found with | |

In order to compare the characteristics of both types of valve, a graph of % flow against % opening has to be plotted for both valves. To find % flow we use Where H* is the highest differential head when the valve is opened. For % opening

Where N is the number of turns. Bernoullis equation can be used to describe the relationship between Flow rate of a fluid and pressure within a system ( ) ( )

The system has maximum flow when the valve is fully open and minimum when the valve is fully closed, if the valve displays linear characteristics, one can expect the valve to show half maximum flow when the valve is half open and three quarters of maximum flow when the valve is a quarter

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Experiment 10 shut and so on. When displayed on a graph of flow rate against % valve opening, a valve with linear characteristics would show a straight line passing through the origin. This however is not usually the case; other valves can have semi-logarithmic and equal percentage characteristics.

Relevance
Valves are used throughout industry in almost every system to control flow rates and to stop flow altogether. This is why knowledge of the characteristics of different types of valve is important so that the correct valve may be selected and used for the correct job.

Experimental work
System used
Air

Equipment and procedure

Manometer

Air blower

Orifice plate with a gasket each side

Direction of air flow

Flanged ends joined together by nuts and bolts, with a gasket placed between each joining.

Valve with hand wheel

We began each experiment with the Valve fully open and read the two heights on the manometer and recorded them, after each recording the valve was tightened by a turn. The last reading of the gate valve was 5.5 turns since it took 5 and a half turns for the valve to be fully closed. We then repeated the readings for each valve in order to minimise errors and make the results more reliable. Once both sets of readings were taken the valve was replaced with the new valve and the process

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Experiment 10 repeated. Gaskets had to be put between each join in order to seal the join and make sure there were no gaps for air to escape the pipeline.

Hazards
As usual lab coats and safety glasses were worn to protect our clothes and eyes from chemicals or malfunctioning equipment. We also had to make sure that the valve was not left fully closed for extended periods of time; this was so that the pressure inside the pipes would not build up too much and damage equipment. Also when taking apart the system we had to loosen all four nuts on the flange before removing them all at once, this is so that if there is a build-up of pressure in the pipe due to an obstruction, the pressure can be released over a larger area when the pipes are taken apart rather than forcing air through a very small gap which can be very dangerous, especially if there is something other than air in the pipeline.

Results
(a) Observed data gate valve Turns 0 1 2 3 4 5 5.5 Table 1 Second readings Turns 0 1 2 3 4 5 5.5 Table 2 Globe valve Turns 0 H1 cm 44.6 44.6 45.1 46 48 51.7 52 H2 cm 59.6 59.4 58.9 58 56 52.3 52 First readings H1 cm 44.5 44.5 45 46 48 51.5 51.8 H2 cm 59.5 59.5 59 58 56 52.5 51.8

First readings H1 cm 47 H2 cm 56.8

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Experiment 10 1 2 3 4 5 Table 3 Second readings Turns 0 1 2 3 4 5 Table 4 (b) Derived data H1 cm 47.1 47.2 47.2 47.5 48.8 52 H2 cm 56.8 56.7 56.7 56.4 55 51.9 47 47.2 47.5 48.8 52 56.8 56.6 56.4 55.2 52

gate valve Turns 0 1 2 3 4 5 5.5 Table 5 Globe valve Turns 0 1 2 3 4 5 Table 6

Average readings H1 average H2 average H % opening cm cm cm 44.55 59.55 15.00 44.55 59.45 14.90 45.05 58.95 13.90 46.00 58.00 12.00 48.00 56.00 8.00 51.60 52.40 0.80 51.90 51.90 0.00 % flow 100.0 81.8 63.6 45.5 27.3 9.1 0.0 100.0 99.7 96.3 89.4 73.0 23.1 0.0

Average readings H1 average H2 average H % opening cm cm cm 47.05 56.80 9.75 47.10 56.75 9.65 47.20 56.65 9.45 47.50 56.40 8.90 48.80 55.10 6.30 52.00 51.95 0.05 % flow 100 80 60 40 20 0 100.0 99.5 98.4 95.5 80.4 7.2

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Experiment 10

120.0 100.0 80.0

Gate valve

% flow

60.0 40.0

20.0
0.0 0.0 20.0 40.0 60.0 80.0 100.0 120.0

% opening

Graph 1

Globe valve
120.0
100.0 80.0

% flow

60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0 0 20 40 60 80 100 120

% opening Graph 2

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Experiment 10

Valve comparison
120.0 100.0 80.0

% flow

60.0 40.0 20.0 0.0 0.0 50.0 100.0 150.0

Gate valve Globe valve

% opening Graph 3 a comparison of the two different valves Tables 5 and 6 are tables of calculations derived from the mean results from tables 1 to 4.

Calculations
Average manometer height
The mean height for each turn is calculated from the first and second readings for each valve

H
The difference in height of the manometer is calculated using the mean height values | | | |

% flow
Once the values of H have been calculated they can then be used in the equation

Where H* is the highest differential head when the valve is fully opened.

% opening
From the number of turns the % opening may be calculated

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Experiment 10

Where Ntotal is the total number of turns when the valve is fully closed.

Discussion

talk about not building up pressure when valve is fully closed; friction in the control valve and why, compare your graphs with other literature sources; put these in. Also talk about sources of error, and why you loosen the bolts before removing construction ie: so the flanges won't get damaged and the pipeline won't collapse. That last bit he wrote as a correction on my report.

Conclusions

Nomeclature
H1 is the height of the water in the tube upstream of the orifice plate H2 is the height of the water in the tube downstream of the orifice plate H is the height difference on the manometer H* is the maximum height difference on the manometer when the valve is fully open Q is the volumetric flow rate Qmax is the maximum volumetric flow rate N is the number of turns on the handwheel
is the fluid flow speed at a point in the system, is the acceleration due to gravity is the elevation of the point above a reference plane, with the positive z-direction pointing upward so in the direction opposite to the gravitational acceleration is the pressure at that point in the system is the density of the fluid

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