Closed Conduit Measurement

Techniques

Monroe L. Weber-Shirk

School of Civil and

Environmental Engineering

Measurement Techniques
Direct Volume or
Weight measurements
Velocity-Area
Integration
Pressure differential

Pitot Tube
Venturi Meter
Orifice
Elbow Meter

Electromagnetic Flow
Meter
Turbine Flow Meter
Vortex Flow Meter
Displacement Meter
Acoustic Doppler
Laser Doppler
Particle Tracking

Some Simple Techniques...

Direct

Volume or Weight measurements

Measure

volume and time (bucket and

stopwatch)
Excellent for average flow measurements
Velocity-Area

Stream flow
Pitot

Tube

Integration

Venturi Meter
1797

- Venturi presented his work on the

Venturi tube
1887 - first commercial Venturi tube
produced by Clemens Herschel
Minimal pressure loss
p1 V12
p2 V22

z1

z 2 hL
2g
2g

Yes!
Bernoulli equation applicable?_______

Venturi Meter Discharge

Equation
p1 p2 V22 V12

2g 2g
D2
p1 p2 V22

2 g
D1

V2

2 g ( p1 p2 )

1 D2 D1 4

Q Cv A2

V1 D12 V2 D22

2 g ( p1 p2 )

1 D2 D1 4

Q K venturi A2 2 gh

Cv is the coefficient of velocity. It

corrects for viscous effects
(energy losses) and velocity
gradients ().
Kventuri is 1 for high Re and small
D2/D1 ratios

Orifice
8D

2.5 D
h

Q K orifice Aorifice 2 gh

Q K orifice Aorifice

2p

The flow coefficient, Korifice, is a

function of the ratio of orifice
diameter to pipe diameter and is a
Reynolds number.
weak function of ________

Elbow Meter
Centripetal force at the bend
results in higher pressure at
the outside of the bend
Any elbow can be used as the
meter
Needs to be calibrated (no
standard calibration curves
are available)

V2
Fc m
r

?
Q =K elbow Aelbow 2 g Dh

Electromagnetic Flow Meter

Conductor moving through
a magnetic field generates
an _______ field.
electric
Voltage is proportional to
velocity
Causes no __________
resistance tomeasurable
flow
High signal amplification
is required

magnet
conductive fluid

electrodes
measure voltage here

Turbine and Paddle Wheel Flow

Meters
Simply

a turbine mounted in a pipe held in

a stream
The angular velocity of the turbine is
related to the velocity of the fluid
Can operate with relatively
low head loss
Needs to be calibrated
Used to measure
_________
___ ____
volumetric flow
rate or
___________
velocity

Vortex Flow Meter

Vortex shedding
Strouhal number, S, is constant
for Re between 104 and 106
Vortex shedding frequency (n)
can be detected with pressure
sensors

nd
S
V0

Displacement Meter
Used

extensively for measuring the quantity

of water used by households and businesses
Uses positive displacement of a piston or
disc
Each cycle of the piston corresponds to a
known volume of water
Designed to accurately measure
slow leaks!

Orifice Example
Estimate the orifice diameter that will result in a 100 kPa
pressure drop in a 6.35 mm I.D. pipe with a flow rate of 80
mL/s. The orifice coefficient (Korifice) is 0.6.
What is the ratio of orifice diameter to pipe diameter?
If the smallest pressure differential that can accurately be
measured with the pressure sensor is 1 kPa, what is the
smallest flow that can accurately be measured using this
orifice?
What are two ways of extending the range of measurement
to lower flows?

Acoustic Doppler Velocimetry

The ADV measures the velocity of water using the

Doppler effect. If a source of sound is moving
relative to the receiver, the frequency of the sound
at the receiver is shifted from the transmitted
frequency.

Fdoppler = -Fsource ( V / C )

V is the relative velocity between source and

receiver, C is the speed of _______,
sound Fdoppler is the
change in frequency at the receiver, and Fsource is the
transmitted frequency.

Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter

http://www.sontek.com/

Point measurement
_______

Laser Doppler Velocimetry

a single laser beam is split into two equal-intensity

beams which are focused at a point in the flow field.

An interference pattern is formed at the point where

the beams intersect, defining the measuring volume.

Particles moving through the measuring volume

scatter light of varying intensity, some of which is
collected by a photodetector.

The resulting frequency of the photodetector output

is related directly to particle velocity.

_______ measurement

Point

http://www.tsi.com/

Particle Tracking Velocimetry

Illuminate a slice of fluid
(seeded with particles) with a
laser sheet
Take a high resolution picture
with a digital camera
Repeat a few milliseconds later
Compare the two images to
determine particle displacement
Measures _______
velocity ______
field

http://amy.me.tufts.edu/

Questions to Ponder
Will

an ADV need to be recalibrated if it is

moved from freshwater to saltwater?
A graduate student proposes to use an LDV
in a wave tank that is stratified with
freshwater on top of saltwater to measure
turbulence from the breaking waves. What
problem might arise?

Orifice Solution
Estimate

the orifice diameter that will result in

a 100 kPa pressure drop in a 6.35 mm I.D. pipe
with a flow rate of 80 mL/s. The orifice
coefficient (Korifice) is 0.6.
Q K orifice Aorifice

d=

4Q
p K orifice

2 Dp
r

2p

d=

p d 2 2 Dp
Q =K orifice
4
r
4 ( 80 10 - 6 m3 / s )
p ( 0.6)

2 ( 100000 Pa )
1000kg / m3

d =3.46mm

Orifice Solution
What is the ratio of orifice diameter to pipe
diameter? (0.546)
If the smallest pressure differential that can
accurately be measured with the pressure sensor is 1
kPa, what is the smallest flow that can accurately be
measured using this orifice?

p d 2 2 Dp
Q =K orifice
4
r

8 mL/s

What are two ways of extending the range of

measurement to lower flows?