SEPTEMBER 28, 2019

DUHOK POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY

TECHNICAL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF PETROCHEMICAL

FUNDAMENTALS OF PRESSURE
MEASUREMENT
[DOCUMENT SUBTITLE]

[DOCUMENT SUBTITLE]
SIYAR M. SALEEM
Transport Phenomena Practical
Group B
Report No. 1
INTRODUCTION

Measuring pressure is important in the engineering industry, e.g. in plant, turbo

machine and aircraft construction and in process engineering. Other fundamental
factor such as flow rate or flow velocity can also be determined based on pressure
measurement.
The experiment unit enables the user to measure the pressure with two different
measuring methods:
1- Directly by measuring the length of a liquid column (U-tube manometer,
inclined tube manometer).
2- Indirect by measuring the change of shape of a bourdon tube (bourdon tube
pressure gauge).
In a U-tube manometer, the pressure causes the liquid column to move, the
pressure difference is read directly from a scale and is the measure for the
applied pressure, in inclined tube manometer, one leg points diagonally up. a
small height difference therefore changes the length of the liquid column
significantly.
The principle of the bourdon tube pressure gauge is based on the change in
cross-section of the bent bourdon tube under pressure, this change in cross
section leads to an expansion of the bourdon tube diameter. A bourdon tube
pressure gauge is therefore an indirectly acting pressure gauge where the
pressure differential is indicated via a transmission gearing and pointer.
In experiments, pressure in the millibar range are generated with a plastic
syringe and displayed on the manometer. the experimental unit is equipped
with two bourdon tube pressure gauge for measuring positive and negative
pressure, the U-tube manometer, inclined tube manometer and bourdon tube
pressure gauge at the experimental unit can be combined using tubes. A
calibration device enables calibration of an additional bourdon tube pressure
gauge using a weight-loaded piston manometer.
OBJECTIVE
1- Working principle of a bourdon tube pressure gauge.
2- Calibrating mechanical manometer.
3- Determine systematic errors.
4- Principle of operation and working with a piston manometer.
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL

1-U-tube manometer
2- Inclined tube manometer
3- Calibration devices with Bourdon tube pressure gauge
4- Bourdon tube pressure gauge for positive pressure
5- Bourdon tube pressure gauge for negative pressure
Principle of operation of liquid column manometers
1 U-tube manometer, 2 inclined tube manometers; delta p pressure difference,
dh height difference, rho density of measuring fluid, g acceleration of gravity

Principle of operation of a Bourdon tube pressure gauge

1 scale, 2 pointer, 3 Bourdon tube fixed in place, 4 gearing, 5 tie rod, 6 Bourdon
tube without pressure, 7 Bourdon tube expanded under pressure
PROCEDURES

Liquid column manometers

 We did measure the pressure changes in the U-tube and

inclined U-tube manometer by applying air pressure using
syringe.
 Connected the U-tube manometer and the pressure transducer
to the network.
 Get multiple pressure readings by increasing the pressure
gradually.
 Repeat steps 3 and 4 connected the U-tube manometer

Bourdon tube pressure gauge

 Measure the weight of the calibration masses.
 Note down the weight of the piston and its cross-sectional area.
 Remove the piston and pour the water into the cylinder until it is
full to
 overflow level. Any air trapped in the tube may be cleared by
tilting and
 gently tapping the apparatus.
 Insert the piston carefully and spin it to minimize any friction
effects.
 Note the pressure reading from the gage.
 Add the weights in convenient increments, and at each
increment, observe the pressure
 gage reading.
 Take the similar sets of readings with decreasing weights.

Note: If due to the slight leakage, piston reaches the cylinder bottom,
more water must be added to the cylinder.
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CALCULATIONS

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DISCUSSION
Pressure and vacuum measurement is widely used in industrial and scientific
applications. It can be measured with many different types of sensors, techniques
and measurement technologies. The selection of measurement technique and
sensor type depends on the application and requirements.
Pressure measuring devices using liquid columns in vertical or inclined tubes are
called manometers. One of the most common is the water filled u-tube
manometer used to measure pressure difference in pitot or orifices located in the
airflow in air handling or ventilation system.
Various types of pressure measuring instrument have been used to measure the
pressure intensity at any point in static or moving fluid. One of these devices is the
Bourdon tube pressure gage. Bourdon-tube pressure gages are most widely used
now days because of their reliability, compactness, low cost and ease of use. It
consists of a curved tube. When pressure is applied to the tube, it tends to
straighten out, and the deflection of the end of the tube is communicated
through a system of levers to a recording pointer. This gauge is widely used for
steam and compressed gases. The pressure indicated is the difference between
the system pressure and to the external (ambient) pressure, and is usually
referred to as the gauge pressure.

We can improve the experiment by doing it many times and take a lot of
readings to compare with each other.

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CONCLUSION

It can be concluded that pressure measurement using manometers is a very widely

used technique and gives us accurate results. We have seen from our readings that
the expected values and the obtained values were very much similar and small
differences could be attributed to experimental errors. One thing that we had to keep
in mind using the Bourdon Gage Manometer that the scale reading has an initial
calibration error of 0.3 bars which could be a result of air bubble present in the
linings of the piston. It was a short experiment and did not require many efforts.
More than three manometer readings were taken so as to take mean of a larger
number of values to make the results as reliable as possible. We also included
uncertainties in our calculations which make results more accurate.

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