1.

0 TITLE

Flow rate Measurement: Orifice Meter, Venturi Meter and Rotameter

2.0 OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this experiment is:

1. To determine the actual and theoretical flow rate of water for a venturi meter and an
orifice meter.
2. To determine the flow rate coefficient, 𝐶𝑑 from the experimental data for a venturi meter
and an orifice meter.

3.0 INTRODUCTION

A flowmeter is a device used to measure the flow rate or quantity of a gas or liquid moving
through a pipe (Maxmachinery, n.d.). Flowmeters that were used in this experiment are venturi
meter, orifice meter and rotameter. These are called obstruction flowmeters. They are widely
used in measuring flow rates of gases and liquids. It is determined by constructing the flow and
measuring the decrease in pressure caused by the increase in velocity at the constriction site
(Cengel & Cimbala, 2014). The pressure drop associated with each meter is measured directly
from the manometers. The apparatus used in this experiment is shown in Figure 1.

According to Beasley & Figliola (2000), These obstruction flowmeter is related to the
law of Mass Conservation. The law of Mass Conservation states that "mass can neither be
created nor destroyed" thus the inflows, outflows and change in storage of mass in a system
must be balance. The law of Mass Conservation is fundamental in fluid mechanics and a basis
for the Equation of Continuity and the Bernoulli Equation. Obstruction flow meters rely on the
Bernoulli Effect. When a restriction in flow occurs, there is an increase in velocity
(conservation of mass). When velocity goes up, pressure goes down. Therefore, there is a
measurable pressure drop across the obstruction.

1
 Manometer
Rotameter

Venturi Orifice

Figure 1: Flowmeter Measurement Apparatus

Venturi meter consists of a venturi tube and a suitable differential pressure gauge. It
has a converging portion, a throat and a diverging portion. The function of the converging
portion is to increase the velocity of the fluid and lower its static pressure. A pressure difference
between inlet and throat is thus developed, where it is correlated with the discharge coefficient.
The diverging cone serves to change the area of the stream back to the entrance area and convert
velocity head into pressure head.

Figure 2: Venturi Meter

Orifice meter consisted of a concentric square-edged circular hole in a thin plate, which
is clamped between the flanges of the pipe. Pressure connections for attaching separate pressure
gauges are made at holes in the pipe walls on both side of the orifice plate. The downstream

2
pressure tap is placed at the minimum pressure position. The centre of the inlet pressure tap is
located between one-half and two pipe diameters from the upstream side of the orifice plate,
usually a distance of one pipe diameter is employed.

Figure 3: Orifice meter

A rotameter is a flow meter in which a rotating free float is the indicating element.
Basically, a rotameter consists of a transparent tapered vertical tube through which fluid flow
upward. Within the tube is placed a freely suspended “float” of pump-bob shape. When there
is no flow, the float rests on a stop at the bottom end. As flow commences, the float rises until
upward and buoyancy forces on it are balanced by its weight. The float rises only a short
distance if the rate of flow is small, and vice versa. The points of equilibrium can be noted as
a function of flow rate. With a well-calibrated marked glass tube, the level of the float becomes
a direct measure of flow rate.

Figure 4: Rotameter
3
4.0 THEORY

For measuring discharge we should apply Bernoulli’s equation at point 1 and at point 2. The
following treatment is limited to incompressible fluids. Friction is neglected, the meter is
assumed to be horizontal and there is no pump. The Bernoulli equation and mass balance
(equation of continuity) can be written as:

𝐵𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑖 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 (𝑧1 = 𝑧2 ):

𝑃1 𝑉1 2 𝑃2 𝑉2 2 (1)
+ = +
𝜌𝑔 2𝑔 𝜌𝑔 2𝑔
Where

𝑃 = 𝐹𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑉 = 𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝜌 = 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑖𝑑
𝑔 = 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑑𝑢𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑦

𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑏𝑎𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒:

𝑉̇ = 𝐴1 𝑉1 = 𝐴2 𝑉2 (2)

By deriving both of the Bernoulli equation and the continuity equation together and solving for
V2 gives:

(3)
2(𝑃1 − 𝑃2 )
𝑉2 = √
𝜌(1 − 𝛽 4 )

Where β is the diameter ratio shown in equation 4:

𝑑 (4)
𝛽=
𝐷

The velocity in equation 3 is obtained by assuming no loss, and thus it is the maximum velocity
that can occur at the constriction site. In reality, some pressure losses due to frictional effects
are inevitable, and thus the actual velocity is less. Also, the fluid stream continues to contract

4
pass the obstruction. Both losses can be accounted for by incorporating a correction factor
called the discharge coefficient. The discharge coefficient, Cd can be defined as:

𝑄𝑠 (5)
𝐶𝑑 =
𝑄𝑡ℎ
Where

𝐶𝑑 = 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝑄𝑠 = 𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒
𝑄𝑡ℎ = 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒

The flowrate for obstruction flowmeters is expressed as:

2(𝑃1 − 𝑃2 )
𝑉̇ = 𝐴𝑜 𝐶𝑑 √ (6)
𝜌(1 − 𝛽 4 )

Where

𝐴𝑜 = 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 − 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑡

𝐶𝑑 = 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡
𝛽 = 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜

5.0 EQUIPMENT

The equipment used in this experiment were:

1. Flowmeter measurement apparatus which consists of:

i. Venturi Meter
ii. Orifice meter
iii. Rotameter
2. Hydraulic bench
3. Stopwatch

5
6.0 PROCEDURE

The pump was The head position The rotameter

turned on and the was adjusted until scale was set to the
water was adjusted the appropriate air highest flowrate,
to ensure no air and water is which is 5 Lpm by
bubble is trapped acquired in the using the flow
in the pipe manometer tube. control valve.

The volumetric
Step 3-5 were The level of water
tank was closed
repeated with in the manometer
and the time taken
reduced flowrates, for h1, h2, h6 and h7
to collect 5L of
i.e. 4, 3, 2 and 1 were observed and
water was
Lpm. recorded.
recorded.

The experiment
was repeated three
times to find at
least 15 readings of
different flowrates.

6
7.0 DATA COLLECTION

Table 1: Average time taken to collect 5 Litre of water

Rotameter Time taken to collect 5L of water (s) Qs (m3/s)

(Lpm) Reading 1 Reading 2 Reading 3 Average
1 171 103 134 136.00 3.68 × 10−5
2 77 69 64 70.00 7.14 × 10−5
3 46 43 41 43.33 1.15 × 10−4
4 31 29 31 30.33 1.65 × 10−4
5 23 27 21 23.67 2.11 × 10−4

Table 2: Average Δ h for Venturi Meter and Orifice Meter

Rotameter VENTURI ORIFICE

(Lpm) h1 h2 h1 - h2 Average h6 h7 h6 - h7 Average
(mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm)
158 149 9 158 155 3
1 152 149 3 5.00 161 149 12 9.33
152 149 3 162 149 13
146 140 6 164 141 23
2 151 142 9 7.00 165 143 22 22.67
146 140 6 165 142 23
135 124 11 175 125 50
3 136 125 11 12.67 174 128 46 49.00
139 123 16 176 125 51
117 99 18 190 103 87
4 116 95 21 19.00 193 100 93 88.67
119 101 18 190 104 86
93 65 28 206 72 134
5 96 74 22 26.33 207 70 137 135.00
96 67 29 207 73 134

7
 Table 3: Overall Result for Venturi Meter and Orifice Meter
Rotameter Time VENTURI ORIFICE
(Lpm) (s) Qs (m3/s) Δh Qth (m3/s) Cd Δh Qth (m3/s) Cd
(mm) (mm)
1 136.00 3.68 × 10−5 5.00 5.68 × 10−5 0.65 9.33 1.46 × 10−4 0.25
2 70.00 7.14 × 10−5 7.00 6.72 × 10−5 1.06 22.67 2.28 × 10−4 0.31
3 43.33 1.15 × 10−4 12.67 9.04 × 10−5 1.28 49.00 3.36 × 10−4 0.34
4 30.33 1.65 × 10−4 19.00 1.11 × 10−4 1.49 88.67 4.51 × 10−4 0.37
5 23.67 2.11 × 10−4 26.33 1.30 × 10−4 1.62 135.00 5.57 × 10−4 0.38

In Table 3, the formula used to calculate the actual flowrate, Qs and the theoretical flowrate, Qth for both venturi meter and orifice meter are shown
below:

1. Actual flowrate 2. Theoretical flowrate

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝑄𝑠 = (𝟕) 2𝑔∆ℎ
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡 5𝐿 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑄𝑡ℎ = 𝐴𝑜 √ (𝟖)
(1 − 𝛽 4 )

Where
𝐴𝑜 = 𝐶𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠 − 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑡
𝑔 = 𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
∆ℎ = 𝐷𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟
𝛽 = 𝐷𝑖𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜

8
8.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Discharge coefficient versus theoretical flowrate

1.80
1.60
Discharge coefficient, Cd

1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
0.00E+00 1.00E-04 2.00E-04 3.00E-04 4.00E-04 5.00E-04 6.00E-04
Thoretical flowrate, Qth (m^3/s)

Venturi Orifice Linear (Venturi) Linear (Orifice)

Figure 5: Discharge coefficient versus theoretical flowrate for venturi and orifice meter

Based on Figure 5, the trend of the data shows that the discharge coefficient increase
linearly with the theoretical flowrate for venturi meter. It can also be seen that the graph of 𝐶𝑑
versus theoretical flowrate for orifice meter is similar to the venturi meter. The pattern of the
graph is increasing linearly.

Discharge coefficient versus actual flowrate

1.80
1.60
Discharge coefficient, Cd

1.40
1.20
1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00
0.00E+00 5.00E-05 1.00E-04 1.50E-04 2.00E-04 2.50E-04
Actual flowrate, Qs (m^3/s)

Venturi Orifice Linear (Venturi) Linear (Orifice)

Figure 6: Discharge coefficient versus actual flowrate for venturi and orifice meter

9
 As illustrated in Figure 6, two data are shown in the graph. One is the discharge
coefficient versus actual flowrate for venturi meter and the other one is for orifice meter. Both
of the graphs shows that the discharge coefficient is increasing linearly with the actual flowrate.
It can also be observed that the data for venturi meter is much higher than the orifice meter.
This is because venturi meter has a higher discharge coefficient compared to the orifice meter
due to its streamlined design and because it has a smaller ideal flowrate compared to orifice
meter. However, there are considerable variations in design.

Actual flowrate versus rotameter scale

2.50E-04
Actual flowrate, Qs (m^3/s)

2.00E-04 y = 4E-05x - 1E-05

R² = 0.9961

1.50E-04

1.00E-04

5.00E-05

0.00E+00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Rotameter scale (Lpm)

Figure 7: Actual flowrate versus rotameter scale

Based on Figure 7, it is observed that the actual flowrate increase linearly with the rotameter
scale. Similar to all the graphs before. Generally, all the graphs plotted have the same trend.
Since they are linearly increased, it is assumed that they have a straight line and the general
equation of the straight line is used:

𝑦 = 𝑚𝑥 + 𝑐 (9)

As shown in the graph, the equation of the graph is:

𝑦 = (4 × 10−5 )𝑥 − 1 × 10−5 (10)

10
And the value of R2 is 0.9961. Since the value is high, this shows that the data nearly fits the
regression line.

Based on Figure 5, the discharge coefficient, 𝐶𝑑 for venturi meter is increasing linearly
with the theoretical discharge Qth. Based from the overall data tabulated in Table 3, the value
of Cd for venturi meter is from 0.65 to 1.62. The minimum experimental value deviates much
lower and the maximum experimental value deviates much higher than the theoretical value
which is ranging from 0.95 to 0.99.

According to Figure 5, it can also be observed that the discharge coefficient, 𝐶𝑑 for
orifice meter is increasing linearly with the theoretical discharge Qth. The theoretical value of
Cd for orifice meter is 0.61. However, from the result calculated, the average value of Cd is only
ranging from 0.25 until 0.38 which does not even reach the theoretical value.

From the analysis, it is clear that some errors occurred while conducting the experiment
since the experimental result is not the same as the theoretical result. One of the errors happened
when the reading of the volume of water is taken. There were some impurities found inside the
tube which affected the meniscus and caused confusion to the reader. Next, since there is no ‘1
Lpm’ marked on the rotameter, it may cause some error while adjusting the water level on the
rotameter and thus, an accurate reading cannot be obtained. Besides that, the rotameter reading
is hard to be seen due to the moving float inside the rotameter.

Moreover, there were also some random errors that may lead to an inaccurate result.
For instance, parallax error that happens when the eye is not on the same level as the meniscus.
The venturi meter and orifice meter reading should be taken before the water started to be
collected because this can affect the pressure difference in water and thus can affect the result.
Lastly, the stopwatch is not pressed at the moment when the water reach a certain level which
can cause a few seconds different.

11
9.0 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

The experiment were successfully carried out, even though the data collected varies with the
theoretical data due to some errors. Through the experiment, the objectives had been achieved.
The actual flowrate can be obtained by using equation 7 while the theoretical flowrate were
obtained by using equation 8. The discharge coefficient was obtained from equation 5.

In conclusion, discharge coefficient is the ratio of the actual discharge to the theoretical
discharge. Commonly denoted as 𝐶𝑑 , it is related to the flow and pressure loss through the
flowmeters. From the experiment, it can be concluded that the discharge coefficient will
increase when the flowrate increase. It can also be observed that the venturi meter has a higher
discharge coefficient compared to the orifice meter due to its streamlined design and because
it’s ideal flowrate is smaller. The flowrate will be affected if there is an error occurred while
using the venturi meter, orifice meter and rotameter. When the flowrate is affected, the value
of 𝐶𝑑 will be less accurate.

Several recommendations can be done in order to minimize the errors during the
experiment and to increase the accuracy in any measurement. Therefore, it is recommended to
always check the equipment before starting the experiment so that no air bubble is trapped. The
readings should also be taken accurately and the experiment should be repeated three times in
order to obtain a more accurate result.

12
10.0 REFERENCES

1. Cengel, Yunus A. & Cimbala, John M. (2014). FLUID MECHANICS:

Fundamentals and Applications Third Eddition in SI Units. Singapore: McGraw-
Hill Education.

2. Donald E. Beasley & Richard S. Figliola (2000). Theory and Design for
Mechanical Measurements Third Edition. Retrieved from
http://abe.ufl.edu/tburks/Presentations/ABE6031/Chapter%2010%20Notes.pdf
[Accessed on: 4th April 2017]

3. Maxmachinery. What is a Flow Meter? Retrieved from

http://www.maxmachinery.com/what-flow-meter [Accessed on: 4th April 2017]

4. Flowmeter measurement apparatus. Retrieved from

https://www.academia.edu/18747069/CHE241_-
_Lab_Report_Flowmeter_Measurement_Apparatus_FM101_2015_ [Accessed on:
4th April 2017]

5. Flow through Venturi Meter. Retrieved from http://uorepc-

nitk.vlabs.ac.in/exp4/index.html [Accessed on: 4th April 2017]

13