Introduction

Orifice and venturi meters are flow sensing elements which are commonly used in fluid flow

determination. The venture tube has a conical inlet which is converging, it has a cylindrical

throat, and it also has a diverging recovery cone. It does not have sudden contour changes, no

sharp corners and no projection into the fluid. The area of the fluid stream is decreased in the

inlet section, and this causes a decrease in pressure and an increase in velocity. The centre of the

cylindrical throat has the lowest value in pressure, with no velocity or pressure change, and this

is where the low pressure is measured. The recovery of pressure is allowed at the recovery cone

so as to have a total pressure loss of only 10% to 25%. The measurement of high pressure is done

at the entrance cone upstream. The resulting fluid pressure reduction after a fluid flows through a

constricted pipe section is what is referred to as the venturi effect. To satisfy the equation of

continuity, there must be an increase in fluid velocity through the constriction, and there must be

a pressure decrease due to energy conservation where, the kinetic energy gain is balanced by a

pressure drop or pressure gradient force.

An orifice plate is used to measure the fluid flow rate, and the principle it uses is similar to the

venture meter, the Bernoullis principle, which brings out the relationship between pressure and

velocity of a fluid. There is a decrease in pressure when the velocity increases and vice versa. An

orifice plate is thin and bears a hole in the middle. It is usually placed in a pipe through which a

fluid flows. When the fluid flows in the pipe, it has a certain pressure and velocity, therefore

when it reaches the hole of the orifice, it is forced to converge through the hole. The maximum

convergence point occurs downstream the physical orifice, the vena-contracta point. As this

happens, the pressure and velocity changes. Beyond the vena-contracta, the pressure and velocity

changes once again as the fluid expands. From bernoullis equation, the mass flow and
volumetric rates can be obtained by measuring the fluid pressure difference between the vena-

contracta and the normal pipe section.

Objectives

The main objective of this experiment is to find out the overall meter coefficient (C) for a venturi

meter and an orifice plate. We are also to consider these meters application in fluid flow

measurement in engineering.

Theory, methods and equations used

The pressure drop across a constriction (h) is proportional the fluid volume flow rate (Q) when

a fluid flow is constricted. It is therefore revealed by fluid flow theoretical analyses that

or alternatively, 0.5

Where:

Q is the volumetric flow rate, 3

h is the piezometric head difference across constriction, m

v h h

Q d1 d2 d1 d2

Venturi meter Orifice plate

The general equation which can be used for either meter to express the ideal fluids theoretical

flow rate is:

2. .
= 1
1 2
[ ] 1
2

Where:

G is the gravitational acceleration (9.81m/s2)

A is the cross section area m2

The measured flow rate of real fluids differs from the theoretical value, and the meter coefficient

C is used to express this difference, such that:

2. .
= . 1
1 2
[ ] 1
2

Experimental equipment

The main equipment used for this experiment include a venture meter and an orifice plate. Other

equipment include a stop watch which is for measuring the required time for supplying a definite

amount of water, a lever system used for measuring the mass of discharged water. These were

used for the actual rate of flow calculation. A level control device, a water supply tank and a

pump were also used.

Procedures used
The pump was first switched on, and to ensure the water flowed into the venturi meter, the

rotameter was adjusted. Measures were taken so that air could not be induced into the system

through the venture throat.

The measurements for the static heads for each manometric tubes were taken after a steady flow

was established. The discharged water by the system weights were measured per unit time with

the weigh bench. The calculation for the flow rate (Q) was then done using the discharged

volume of water and the above measurements. The piezometric head difference across the

constriction (h) was also measured for both meters.

The procedure was repeated five more times to ensure that a wide range of flow rates was gotten.

Results, Analysis and Discussion

The meter coefficient for all the six flow rates were calculated using the formula below:

2
2 (1 ) 1
=
1 2

Which was derived from the formula which was used to express the measure of flow rates for

real fluids:

2. .
= . 1
1 2
[ ] 1
2

The results and calculations are summarized in the tables below:

 Results
Venturi Orifice
d1=0.021, d2=0.016 d1=0.051, d2=0.020
Test Mass (kg) Time(s) Q (m3/s) h1 h2 h3 h4
6 12.90
1 4.71 x 10-4 0.379 0.109 0.368 0.059
6 12.56
6 13.13
2 4.67 x 10-4 0.359 0.119 0.351 0.077
6 12.54
6 14.90
3 3.943 x 10-4 0.340 0.135 0.332 0.098
6 15.53
6 15.69
4 3.71 x 10-4 0.319 0.155 0.312 0.125
6 16.65
6 18.09
5 3.31 x 10-4 0.299 0.172 0.293 0.150
6 18.19
6 22.97
6 2.561 x 10-4 0.278 0.194 0.272 0.182
6 24.72
Table showing the results

Calculations
Venturi Orifice
h(m) C h(m) C
Test (h1-h2) (h1-h2)
1 0.27 0.829 0.309 0.0602

2 0.24 0.872 0.274 0.634

3 0.205 0.797 0.234 0.579

4 0.164 0.838 0.187 0.609

5 0.127 0.85 0.143 0.621

6 0.084 0.795 0.09 0.596
 Mean 0.791 0.576
Table showing calculated values from the results.

From the table of results, the meters coefficient for the venture meter were 0.829 for flow rate 1;

0.872 for flow rate 2; 0.797 for flow rate 3; 0.838, 0.850 and 0.795 for flow rate 4, 5 and 6

respectively. The mean value for the meter coefficient for the venture was found to be 0.791.

On the other hand, the meters of coefficient for the orifice plates were 0.0602, 0.634, 0.579,

0.609, 0.621 and 0.596 for flow rate 1 to 6 in that order. The mean meter coefficient value for the

orifice was 0.576.

From the table above, a graph was plotted for Q against h.

Graph for Q against h

0.350

0.300

0.250

0.200

0.150
Q

0.100

0.050

0.000
0.000471 0.000467 0.0003943 0.000371 0.000331 0.0002561
h

Venturi Orifice
The curves were found to be linear, and the orifice curve was more to the right than the venture

curve.

Conclusion

For venture meters, the coefficient C is constant for given dimensions of the venture, and it must

be adjusted to accommodate water temperature variations. Most of the venture meters that are

commercial have features that are patented. The converging section at the upstream often has

about 21o angle from the axis of the pipe, and an angle of 5 o to 7 o at the diverging section.

Straightening vanes are usually required for the prevention of swirling flow, which can affect

considerably the calibration. Besides, the head loss usually is around 10% to 20% of h.

For orifice, they give accurate Q measurements and are inexpensive in building, though they

cause higher head loss than venture. They present values of true discharge within + or-1% or

better as the venture meters. Eccentric orifices have been used by some engineers to allow

sediment passage. For better accuracy orifices with beveled opening should be used.