INSTRUMENTATION | FLOW MEASUREMENT

Fact or myth: Flowmeter straight run

‘rule of thumb’
Have you ever heard the “rule of thumb” to install owmeters with 10 diameters of straight run
upstream of the owmeter and 5 diameters of …

Author — David Spitzer

Oct 12th, 2015

Have you ever heard the "rule of thumb" to install owmeters with 10 diameters of straight
run upstream of the owmeter and 5 diameters of straight run downstream of the
owmeter? Is this a fact or a myth? I suggest that there is a bit of both. Let me explain.
In general, owmeter manufacturers test their owmeters downstream of different
upstream piping con gurations where the upstream ttings tend to distort the velocity
pro le. Common con gurations include installing the owmeter downstream of a reducer,
downstream of an elbow, downstream of two elbows, downstream of two elbows out of
plane, and the like. The owmeter can be installed at different distances downstream of
the ttings to determine how much straight run is required to suf ciently attenuate the
velocity pro le distortion so as to not affect the ow measurement.

READ ALSO: How to Develop a Good Velocity Pro le Without Installing Straight Run

For example, a owmeter located 2 diameters of straight run downstream of an elbow may
exhibit signi cant measurement error while the same owmeter located 8 diameters
downstream of the same elbow may measure accurately.  In this example, the owmeter
would measure accurately when installed with 10 diameters of upstream straight run (per
the rule of thumb).

However, the same owmeter may require 30 diameters of upstream straight run to
measure accurately downstream of two elbows out of plane — a con guration that tends
to generate more velocity pro le distortion. Installing the owmeter 10 diameters
downstream of two elbows out of plane (per the rule of thumb) would cause the owmeter
to not measure accurately.

On the other hand, some owmeters measure accurately with no upstream straight run —
regardless of the upstream piping con guration.

Therefore, each owmeter has its own unique straight run requirements for various
upstream piping con gurations. Flowmeters should be installed in accordance with these
unique requirements for that owmeter and not a rule of thumb.

David W. Spitzer

David W. Spitzer is a regular contributor to Flow Control magazine and a principal in

Spitzer and Boyes, LLC offering engineering, seminars, strategic, marketing consulting,
distribution consulting and expert witness services for manufacturing and automation
companies. Spitzer and Boyes is also the publisher of the Industrial Automation INSIDER.
Spitzer has more than 40 years of experience and has written over 10 books and 300 articles
about ow measurement, instrumentation and process control. He can be reached at 845 623-
1830 or via www.spitzerandboyes.com. Click on the "Products" tab to nd his Consumer
Guides to various ow and level measurement technologies. 
Source URL: https://www.piprocessinstrumentation.com/instrumentation/ ow-
measurement/article/15562967/fact-or-myth- owmeter-straight-run-rule-of-thumb