ORIFICE FLOW FORMULAS

Figure 1
The flow of air or gas through an orifice can be determined by the formula:
Q = 1658.5 x A x Cd (h/g)0.5
where:
Q =flow, cubic feet per hour
A =area of the orifice, square in
Cd =discharge coefficient of the orifice
h =pressure drop across the orifice, in w.c.
g =specific gravity of the gas, based on standard air at 1.0
1. SIZING ORIFICE PLATES
To calculate the size of an orifice plate, this equation can be rearranged as follows:

2. EFFECT OF CHANGES IN OPERATING CONDITIONS ON FLOW THROUGH AN

ORIFICE – GENERAL RELATIONSHIP

If any of the factors in this relationship remain constant from Condition 1 to Condition 2, they can be
dropped out of the equation, yielding these simplified relationships. Each of them assumes only one
factor has been changed.
2A. FLOW CHANGE VS. ORIFICE AREA CHANGE
Q2/Q1 = A2/A1
2B.FLOW CHANGE VS. PRESSURE DROP CHANGE

2C. FLOW CHANGE VS. SPECIFIC GRAVITY CHANGE

3. EFFECT OF CHANGES IN OPERATING CONDITIONS ON PRESSURE DROP ACROSS
AN ORIFICE–GENERAL RELATIONSHIP:

3A.PRESSURE DROP CHANGE VS. FLOW CHANG

3B.PRESSURE DROP CHANGE VS. ORIFICE AREA CHANGE

3C. PRESSURE DROP CHANGE VS. SPECIFIC GRAVITY CHANGE

h2/h1 = g2/g1
ORIFICE CAPACITY TABLES LOW PRESSURE GAS
HOW TO DETERMINE FLOW THROUGH AN ORIFICE OF A KNOWN DIAMETER
1. Locate the orifice diameter in the left-hand column of the table.
2. Read across to the column corresponding to the gas being measured. This is the uncorrected
flow.
3. Multiply this flow by the coefficient of discharge of the orifice.
4. Correct this flow to the pressure drop actually measured, using the square root law
EXAMPLE
What is the flow of natural gas through a 7/32″ diameter sharp edge orifice at 6″ w.c. pressure
drop?

From the table, uncorrected natural gas flow through a 7/32″ orifice is 80.7 cfh at 1″ w.c. Cd for a sharp
edge orifice is 0.60, so corrected flow is 80.7 x 0.60 = 48.4 cfh at 1″ w.c. pressure drop.

Per equation 2b, Q2 = Q1 x √(h2 /h1) = 48.4 x √(6″wc/1″wc) = 119 cfh

TO DETERMINE THE ORIFICE SIZE TO HANDLE A KNOWN FLOW AT A
SPECIFIED PRESSURE DROP
1. Correct the known flow to a pressure drop of 1″ w.c., sing the square root law.
2. Divide the flow by the orifice coefficient.
3. In the orifice table, locate the column for the gas under consideration. In this column, locate
the flow closest to the corrected value found in step 2.
 4. Read to the left to find the corrected orifice size.

EXAMPLE
Size a gas jet for a mixer having an entrance to the jet orifice converges at a 15° included angle.
Gas is propane. Required flow is 120 cfh at 30″ w.c. pressure drop.

Per equation 2b, Q2 = 120 x √(1/30) = 22 cfh

From Figure 1, Cd for 15° convergent nozzle is 0.94, so corrected flow is 22/0.94 = 23.4 cfh.
Locate 23.4 cfh in the propane column of the orifice table and then read to the left to find a #26 drill
size orifice.

CAPACITY, CFH @ 1″ W.C. PRESSURE DROP

AND COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0
CAPACITY, CFH @ 1″ W.C. PRESSURE DROP
AND COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0
CAPACITY, CFH @ 1″ W.C. PRESSURE DROP
AND COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0

ORIFICE CAPACITY TABLES FOR HIGH PRESSURE GASES

These tables list compressible flows of high pressure gases through orifices and spuds. They are based
on an orifice pressure drop of 10 psi and a coefficient of discharge (C d) of 1.0. They also assume the
gas is discharging to a region of atmospheric pressure.
TO DETERMINE FLOW THROUGH AN ORIFICE OF A KNOWN DIAMETER:
 1. Locate the orifice diameter in the left-hand column of the table.
2. Read across to the column corresponding to the gas being measured. This is the uncorrected
flow.
3. Multiply this flow by the coefficient of discharge of the orifice in figure 1.
4. Correct this flow to the pressure actually measured ahead of the orifice (P) using the following
relationship:

where Qp is the unknown flow and Q10 is the flow at 10 psig from the table.
EXAMPLE
What is the flow of propane – air mixture through a 3/64″ diameter jet with a 15° angle of
convergence at 35 psig?

From the table, uncorrected propane – air flow through a 3/64″ orifice is 41 scfh at 10 psig.
Cd for 15° convergent jet is 0.94 (figure 1), so corrected flow is 41 x 0.94 = 38.5 scfh at 10 psig.
Corrected flow for 35 psig pressure, per the equation above, is
Qp = 38.5 x (35+14.7)/24.7 = 77.5 scfh
TO DETERMINE THE ORIFICE SIZE TO HANDLE A KNOWN FLOW AT A
SPECIFIED PRESSURE DROP
1. Correct the known flow to a pressure drop of 10 psig, using the equation above.
2. Divide the flow by the orifice coefficient.
3. In the orifice table, locate the column for the gas under consideration. In this column, locate
the flow closest to the corrected value found in step 2.
4. Read to the left to find the corrected orifice size.
EXAMPLE
Size an air jet with a convergent inlet of 15°. Required flow is 450 scfh at 20 psig inlet pressure.
Per the equation above,
Q10 = QP x 24.7/(P + 14.7) = 450 x 24.7/(20+14.7) = 320 scfh

From fig 1, Cd = 15° convergent nozzle is 0.94.

Corrected flow = 320/0.94 = 340 scfh

Locate 340 scfh in the air column of the orifice table. Closest value is 341 scfh, which requires a 1/8″
diameter jet.
CAPACITY, SCFH @ 10 PSI PRESSURE DROP, DISCHARGING TO
ATMOSPHERE, WITH COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0
CAPACITY, SCFH @ 10 PSI PRESSURE DROP, DISCHARGING TO
ATMOSPHERE, WITH COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0
CAPACITY, SCFH @ 10 PSI PRESSURE DROP, DISCHARGING TO
ATMOSPHERE, WITH COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF 1.0

PIPING PRESSURE LOSSES FOR LOW PRESSURE AIR

Inches w.c. per 100 ft. of Schedule 40 pipe
Scfh Air       1/2″ 3/4″ 1″ 1-1/4″ 1-1/2 2″ 2-1/2″ 3
40      0.3 — — — — — — —

50      0.5 — — — — — — —

100      2.1 0.5 — — — — — —

200      8.4 1.9 0.5 — — — — —

300     18.9 4.2 1.2 0.3 — — — —

400      — 7.5 2.1 0.5 — — — —

500      — 11.8 3.3 0.8 0.4 — — —

600      — 16.9 4.7 1.1 0.5 — — —

700      — — 6.4 1.5 0.7 — — —

800      — — 8.3 2.0 0.9 — — —

900      — — 10.5 2.5 1.1 0.3 — —

1,000     — — 13.0 3.1 1.4 0.4 — —

1,500      — — — 7.0 3.2 0.8 0.3 —

2,000      — — — 12.4 5.6 1.4 0.6 —

3,000      — — — — 12.6 3.2 1.3 0.4

4,000      — — — — 5.8 2.2 0.8

5,000      — — — — — 9.0 3.5 1.2

6,000      — — — — — 13.0 5.0 1.7

7,000      — — — — 17.6 6.9 2.3

8,000      — — — — — — 9.0 3.0

9,000      — — — — — — 11.3 3.8

10,000      — — — — — — 14.0 4.7

12,000      — — — — — — 20.2 6.8

14,000      — — — — — — — 9.2

16,000      — — — — — — — 12.0

18,000      — — — — — — — 15.2

20,000      — — — — — — — 18.8

  Scfh Air     4″     6″     8″     10″     12     14″     16″     18

4,000 — — — — — — — —

6,000 0.4 — — — — — — —

8,000 0.7 — — — — — — —

10,000 1.1 — — — — — — —

12,000 1.6 — — — — — — —

14,000 2.2 0.3 — — — — — —

16,000 2.8 0.3 — — — — — —

18,000 3.6 0.4 — — — — — —

20,000 4.4 0.5 — — — — — —

25,000 6.9 0.8 — — — — — —

30,000 9.9 1.2 0.3 — — — — —

35,000 13.5 1.6 0.4 — — — — —

40,000 17.6 2.1 0.5 — — — — —

50,000 — 3.3 0.7 — — — — —

60,000 — 4.7 1.0 0.3 — — — —

70,000 — 6.4 1.4 0.5 — — — —

80,000 — 8.3 1.9 0.6 — — — —

90,000 — 10.5 2.4 0.8 0.3 — — —

100,000 — 13.0 2.9 0.9 0.4 — — —

120,000 — 18.7 4.2 1.3 0.5 0.3 — —

140,000 — — 5.7 1.8 0.7 0.4 — —

160,000 — — 7.4 2.4 0.9 0.5 0.3 —

180,000 — — 9.4 3.0 1.2 0.7 0.3 —

200,000 — — 11.6 3.7 1.4 0.8 0.4 —

250,000 — — 18.2 5.8 2.2 1.3 0.6 0.3

300,000 — — — 8.4 3.2 1.9 0.9 0.5

350,000 — — — 11.4 4.4 2.5 1.3 0.6

400,000 — — — 14.9 5.7 3.3 1.6 0.8

450,000 — — — 18.8 7.2 4.2 2.1 1.1

500,000 — — — — 9.0 5.2 2.6 1.3

550,000 — — — — 10.8 6.2 3.1 1.6

 600,000 — — — — 12.9 7.4 3.7 1.9

650,000 — — — — 15.1 8.7 4.4 2.2

700,000 — — — — 17.5 10.1 5.0 2.5

800,000 — — — — — 13.2 6.6 3.3

900,000 — — — — — 16.7 8.3 4.2

1,000,000 — — — — — 20.6 10.3 5.2

1,100,000 — — — — — — 12.5 6.3

1,200,000 — — — — — — 14.8 7.5

1,300,000 — — — — — — 17.4 8.8

1,400,000 — — — — — — 20.2 10.2

1,600,000 — — — — — — — 13.3

1,800,000 — — — — — — — 16.8

2,000,000 — — — — — — — 20.8

PIPING PRESSURE LOSSES FOR LOW PRESSURE AIR

Inches w.c. per 100 ft. of Schedule 40 pipe
 PIPING PRESSURE LOSSES FOR LOW PRESSURE NATURAL GAS
Inches w.c. per 100ft of Schedule 40 pipe

Nat Gas SCFH 2-1/2″ 3″ 4″ 6″ 8″

2,000 0.3 — — — —

2,500 0.5 — — — —

3,000 0.8 0.3 — — —

4,000 1.3 0.4 — — —

5,000 2.1 0.7 — — —

6,000 3.0 1.0 — — —

7,000 4.1 1.4 0.3 — —

8,000 5.4 1.8 0.4 — —

 9,000 6.8 2.3 0.6 — —

10,000 8.4 2.8 0.7 — —

12,000 12.1 4.0 1.0 — —

14,000 16.4 5.5 1.4 — —

16,000 — 7.2 1.8 — —

18,000 — 9.1 2.2 0.3 —

20,000 — 11.2 2.8 0.3 —

22,000 — 13.6 3.3 0.4 —

24,000 — 16.1 4.0 0.4 —

26,000 — 18.9 4.7 0.5 —

28,000 — — 5.4 0.6 —

30,000 — — 6.2 0.7 —

35,000 — — 8.5 1.0 —

40,000 — — 11.0 1.2 0.3

45,000 — — 14.0 1.6 0.3

50,000 — — 17.3 2.0 0.4

55,000 — — 20.9 2.4 0.5

60,000 — — — 2.8 0.6

70,000 — — — 3.8 0.8

80,000 — — — 5.0 1.1

Inches w.c. per 100 ft of Schedule 40 pipe
HIGH PRESSURE (COMPRESSIBLE) FLOW OF NATURAL GAS IN PIPES
Flows in table are scfh of 0.6 sp. gr. natural gas
 EQUIVALENT LENGTHS OF STANDARD PIPE FITTINGS & VALVES VALVES FULLY
OPEN

90 Tee,
90 Tee, Flow
Pipe I.D Swing 90 45 Flow
Gate Globe Angle Through
size (in) Check elbow elbow Through
Branch
Run

1/2″ 0.622 0.35 18.6 9.3 4.3 1.6 0.78 1.0 3.1

3/4″ 0.824 0.44 23.1 11.5 5.3 2.1 0.97 1.4 4.1

1″ 1.049 0.56 29.4 14.7 6.8 2.6 1.23 1.8 5.3

1-1/4″ 1.380 0.74 38.6 19.3 8.9 3.5 1.6 2.3 6.9

1-1/2″ 1.610 0.86 45.2 22.6 10.4 4.0 1.9 2.7 8.0

2″ 2.067 1.10 58 29 13.4 5.2 2.4 3.5 10.4

2-1/2″ 2.469 1.32 69 35 15.9 6.2 2.9 4.1 12.4

3″ 3.068 1.60 86 43 19.8 7.7 3.6 5.1 15.3

4″ 4.026 2.1 112 56 26.8 10.1 5.4 6.7 20.1

6″ 6.065 2.6 140 70 40.4 15.2 8.1 10.1 30.3

Equivalent lengths are for standard screwed fittings and for screwed, flanged, or welded valves
relative to schedule 40 steel pipe.