Heaven’s light is our guide

Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Course No: ME 2106
Course Title: Fluid Mechanics-I Sessional
LAB REPORT
Experiment No. : 01
Title: Flow Measurements (Discharge) of Fluid (Water) Using an Orificemeter
Submitted To-
Dr . Mahadi Hasan Masud
Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET)
Submitted By-
Group: A-1
Name Roll
Md. Maruf Hasan 2102001
Arpita Paul 2102002
Hasibul Islam Shanto 2102003
S.M. Abu Shalah 2102004
Md. Tuhin Biswas 2102005
MM Ridwan Ahmed 2102006
Md. Azizul Hakim 2102007

Date of Experiment: 16-01-2024

Date of Submission: 23-01-2024
Table of contents
Title: Flow Measurements (Discharge) of Fluid (Water) Using an Orificemeter........................2
Abstract........................................................................................................................................2
1.Introduction...............................................................................................................................2
2.Methodology.............................................................................................................................5
3.Results:......................................................................................................................................9
4.Conclusion..............................................................................................................................12
5.References...............................................................................................................................13
Apendix......................................................................................................................................13

List of figures
Figure 01: Structure of an orifice meter. .................................................................................... 2
Figure 02: Orifice Meter Model Designed in SolidWorks 2022 ............................................... 5
Figure 03: Orifice meter setup (Real image from the Fluid Laboratory) .................................. 6
Figure 04: Log-log graph of Qa versus Hm .............................................................................. 11

Figure 05: Deviation Graph of Qa from Flow Meter versus Orificemeter .............................. 12

List of tables
Table 01: Table for estimating discharge or actual flow rate: ................................................... 7
Table 02: Data table for estimating coefficient of discharge, Cd: .............................................. 8
Table 03: Data Table for estimating discharge from experiment: ............................................. 9
Table 04: Data table for estimating Cd from experiment:........................................................ 10

Title: Flow Measurements (Discharge) of Fluid

(Water) Using an Orificemeter

1
Abstract
This study is focused on the structure, working function and application of an orifice meter. It
was conducted with a view to understanding the working principle of this device, learning
about its structure and solving equations regarding flow rates. The study included an
experimental data table for calculating the flow properties of fluid. From the experiment, the
coefficient of discharge obtained from theoretical calculation was found as 0.640 and from
loglog graph the coefficient of discharge was found as 0.645 where the percentage of
deviation between these coefficient of discharges is 0.78%.

Keywords: Orificemeter, Flow, Flow rate, Fluid, Bernoulli’s equation, Discharge.

1.Introduction
An orifice meter is a flow measuring device that is very popular among other flow measuring
instruments due to its design simplicity, cost efficiency and easy manufacturability to
determine the discharge in single and multi-phase flow [1]. This essay will focus on the
structure of an orifice meter and calculation method of coefficient of discharge of a given
fluid (water). Orifice meter is used to measure the flow rate of any gas or liquid (fluid).

Figure 01: Structure of an orifice meter.

This is a combination of multiple main parts such as orifice plate, differential manometer,
orifice plate housing, downstream pipe, upstream pipe etc. For the study of fluid mechanics,
we often require properties like coefficient of discharge, coefficient of velocity, contraction
etc. Orifice meter plays a vital role in calculating such coefficients.

2
The Orifice meter measures the manometric pressures of both sides of its plate and by using
Bernoulli’s equation necessary data are extracted. It operates on the principle that the drop of
pressure of fluid after passing the orifice plate is related to the flow rate. Measuring this
pressure drop, fluid flow rate through a pipeline can be determined. This is widely used in
industrial applications for fluid flow measurements.

To measure the flow rate of fluid the required equation [2] is:

Qa= Cd . Qt ..........................................................................................................................(1)

Qa=Cd )

Which we get from manipulating the Bernoulli’s equation for two points first one along the
pipe diameter and the second one along the orifice diameter.

Where,

Qa = Actual discharge or flow rate of fluid or water (m3⁄s)

Qt = Theoretical discharge or flow rate of fluid or water (m3⁄s)

Cd = Coefficient of discharge g = Gravitational acceleration

(m⁄s2)

Ao = Orifice area (m2)

Hm = Deflection in the manometer (m of Hg)

Sm = Specific gravity of manometric fluid or Mercury

S = Specific gravity of flowing fluid or water

Do = Orifice diameter (m)

D1 = Pipe diameter (m)

Again,

Qa= Cd K

3
Where,

K1 is a constant and is represented by,

For a given fluid, Qa=K(Hm)n , where K=K1Cd ....................................................................(5)

Hence,

Now taking logarithm on both sides of equation (5) we get,

logQa = logK + nlogHm.......................................................................................................(6)

This is the equation for a straight line.

For two separate points on log-log graph we get two equations as

logQa1 = logK+ nlogHm1.....................................................................................................(7)

And

logQa2 = logK+ nlogHm2.....................................................................................................(8)

Subtracting equation (7) from equation (8) we get,

log( 2) Q n=
Qa

a1
Hm 2 ...............................................................................................................................(9)
log( )
H
m1

Using these equations the value of K and Cd can be obtained.

2.Methodology
Firstly, the pressure tips were located to measure the pressure differential across the orifice.
Then zero adjustment was made to account for any initial pressure reading for no flow. Water
flow was initiated in the pipeline using a water pump. Pressures across the orifice meter were
recorded in the data table for calculations.

4
Figure 02: Orifice Meter Model Designed in SolidWorks 2022

5
 Figure 03: Orifice meter setup (Real image from the Fluid Laboratory)

Multiple readings (five) were taken to get higher experimental accuracy. The following 2
tables were needed for estimating the coefficient of discharge of flow of water. Using table
01 two important parameters for calculation i.e. Manometric or Net Deflection, H m and
Actual Flow Rate were recorded. The values of parameters related to table 01 was recorded
in table 03.
Sample of table 01 is given below:

Table 01: Table for estimating discharge or actual flow rate:

6
 No. of Left Right Net Net Actual Flow
Obs. Column Column Deflection, Deflection, Rate, Qa
Deflection Deflection Hm Hm
Reading Reading (mm of H2O) (mm of Hg) (L⁄min)
(mm) (mm)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

And table 02 would be required to estimate the coefficient of discharge for every reading of
Actual Flow Rate, Qa the values of coefficient of discharge, C d were estimated. Then a log-
log graph was plotted taking Manometric Deflection, Hm along X axis and Actual Flow Rate,

Qa from Flow Meter along Y axis. Sample of table 02 is given below:

7
Table 02: Data table for estimating coefficient of discharge, Cd:
No. Actual Net or Coefficient of Mean C d', n from Flow Rate Percentage of
of Flow Manometric Discharge, Cd Cd from From loglog Q'a Obtained by Deviation

(Q'a-Qa)
Obs theoretical loglog graph
Rate , Qa Deflection, Hm from
| | ⋅100%
using Cd value
(m3⁄s)
calculation graph
. (m of Hg) theoretical
calculation calculated from Qa
log-log graph
(m3⁄s)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

From the log-log graph a straight line was found and the values of coefficient of discharge, C d and n were found, which was further used to

calculate the Actual Flow Rate, Q'a from log-log graph. Then the percentage deviation between Actual Flow Rates Q a and Q'a was obtained. The

values of parameters related to table 02 was recorded in table 04.

8
3.Results:
Table 03: Data Table for estimating discharge from experiment:
No. of Left Right Net Net Actual Flow
Obs. Column Column Deflection Deflection in Rate,
(mm) (mm) (mm of H2O) (mm of Hg) Qa (L⁄min)
1. 310 208 102 7.50 21
2. 308 210 98 7.20 19
3. 307 220 87 6.39 17
4. 305 230 75 5.52 12.5
5. 301 239 62 4.56 11

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Table 04: Data table for estimating Cd from experiment:
No. Actual Net or Coefficient of Mean C d', n from Flow Rate Percentage of
of Flow Manometric Discharge, Cd Cd from From loglog Q'a Obtained by Deviation

(Q'a-Qa)
Obs Deflection, theoretical loglog graph
Rate Qa from
| | ⋅100%
calculation graph using Cd value
. Hm theoretical
calculation calculated from Qa
(m of Hg)

(m3⁄s)
log-log graph
(m3⁄s)
1. 0.00035 0.0075 0.086 0.75 0.004 1.54
2. 0.00032 0.0072 0.084 0.70 0.0037 1.62
3. 0.00028 0.00639 0.080 0.65 0.62 0.645 0.50 0.0034 1.76
4. 0.00020 0.00552 0.074 0.50 0.00269 0.82
5. 0.00018 0.00456 0.067 0.49 0.00263 2.37

.
10
To understand the relation between Actual Flow Rate, Q a and Manometric Head, Hm we need

to take the logarithms of both of them and plot them on a graph. The following Figure 04

shows experimental relationship between the logarithms of Actual Flow Rate, Q a in m⁄s2

taken from Flow Measuring Device and Manometric Deflection, Hm in m of Hg.

Figure 04: Log-log graph of Qa versus Hm

As the figure 04 depicts, logQ a is directly proportional to logH m . This relation can be

expressed by the following expression,

y = 0.00347. x0.05....................................................................................................................(10)

which was obtained by taking two points (0.00478, 0.00024) and (0.00625, 0.000275) that
looked best on the log-log graph and calculating the value of n and coefficient of discharge,
Cd. The values of n and Coefficient of Discharge, C d from log-log graph can further be used
to obtain the Actual Flow Rates from Orificemeter or Q'a in m⁄s2. The values of Actual Flow
Rate both from Flow Meter and Orificemeter (i.e. Q a and Q'a) can be used to find out the
percentage of deviation of Flow Rate between these two measuring devices.

13
 Percentage of Deviation
0.00035 Discharge estimated using Orificemeter
Discharge estimated using Flow Meter 12
0.00033
Actual Flow Rate (m 10Percentage of Devia
/s) 0.00031
3
0.00029 8

0.00027
6
0.00025
4
0.00023
2
0.00021

0.00019 0
1 2 3 4 5
No. of Observation

Figure 05: Deviation Graph of Qa from Flow Meter versus Orificemeter

From the above graph of Figure 05, it is evident that the Actual Flow Rate from Orificemeter,

Q a' differs from the measurement of Flow Measuring Device. This shows there were some

deviations in the measurement and it was also shown as percentage deviation in the Figure

05.

4.Conclusion
Orifice meter is a very simple flow rate measuring device but is not the best in terms of
accuracy as there are other devices which have higher precision in measuring. But it is a very
userfriendly device which is very easy to learn and operate. The study was a success as vast
knowledge was gathered regarding the orifice meter and flow rate was successfully
calculated. A little deviation was found between the coefficient of discharges obtained from
theoretical calculation and log-log graph which is 0.78 %.

14
5.References
[1] Panda, S. K., Choudhury, B. K., & Rath, K. C. (2022). A Literature Review on Orifice
as a Flow Measuring Device. ECS Transactions, 107(1), 815.

[2] Qin, R., & Duan, C. (2017, October). The principle and applications of Bernoulli
equation. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series (Vol. 916, No. 1, p. 012038). IOP
Publishing.

[3] Shah, M. S., Joshi, J. B., Kalsi, A. S., Prasad, C. S. R., & Shukla, D. S. (2012).
Analysis of flow through an orifice meter: CFD simulation. Chemical engineering science,
71, 300-309.

Apendix
Sample calculation for determining coefficient of discharge for observation 01:

From theoretical calculation:

Area of Orifice Plate, A0 = π4 ×D02

A0 = π4 (20×10-3)2 Here,

=3.14×10-4 m2 D0 = 20×10-3 m

Area of Pipe, A1 = π4 ×D12 D1 = 31.75×10-3 m

A1= π4 (31.75×10-3)2 m2

=7.92 × 10−4 𝑚2

Actual Flow Rate, Qa1obtained from Flow Meter

Qa1 = 20 L⁄min

= 20×10-3 m3
60 s

=0.00033 m3⁄s

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Using equation (4) we get, Constant, K1

K Here,

A0 = 3.14 × 10−4 m2

=0.00538 Sm = 13.6

Now, S=1

From equation (3), we get Qa= Cd m K1√H g = 9.18 m⁄s2

Therefore,

Coefficient of Discharge from theoretical equation, Here,

Qa1= 0.00033 m3⁄s

Qa
Cd
K1√Hm1

= 0.00538×0.088
0.00033
K1 = 0.00538

= 0.697

Similarly we can get all the values of C d and determine the mean C d from theoretical
calculation.

Hence mean Cd from theoretical calculation = 0.640

From log-log graph:

From log-log graph if we take two points (Hm, Qa ) as point-1: (0.00478, 0.00024) & point-2

(0.00625, 0.000275).

log( 2)
Qa

16
 Q

From equation 09 we get, n= a1

Hm 2

log( )
H
m1

Or, n = log( 0.00024) = 0.50

0.000275

log
From equation 07 we get, logQa1 = logK+ nlogHm1

Or, log(0.00024)= logK+ 0.5log(0.00478) Here,

Or, K = 0.00347 Qa1= 0.00024 m3⁄s

From equation 05 we get, K=K1Cd Hm1 = 0.00478 m of Hg

Or, 0.00347 = 0.00538 Cd Or, Cd = 0.645 K1 = 0.00538

Hence, Cd obtained from log-log graph = 0.645

Now, we can measure the Flow Rate Q 'a Obtained by using Cd value calculated from log-log

graph as follows: Here,

From equation 05 we get, Qa = K(Hm)n K = 0.00347

Or, Q'a = K(Hm)n Hm1 = 0.00772 m of Hg

Therefore,Q'a1 = K(Hm1)n n = 0.50

= 0.00347 × (0.00772)0.50 = 0.000305 m3⁄s

Similarly we can obtain this percentage of deviation for all 05 observations.

Percentage of Deviation between discharge obtained from Flow meter and Orificemeter:

We can get the percentage of deviation by using the following equation :

'

Percentage of Deviation 100% Here,

17
 Qa

For observation 01 we get, Q a1' = 0.000305 m3⁄s

Percentage of Deviation 100% Qa = 0.00033 m3⁄s

= 7.58 %

Similarly we can obtain this percentage of deviation for all 05 observations.

Percentage of deviation between the value of coefficient of discharge:

Cd obtained from theoretical calculation = 0.640 and C d'obtained from log-log graph = 0.645

( ' )
Percentage of deviation %

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