Kuwait University

College of Engineering & Petroleum

Mechanical Engineering Department
Lab B1
ME-437/01
Experiment A3
Flow through a Venturi Meter
By
Omar Saleem
205111466
Group: A
Supervised by
Dr. Nawaf Aljuwahel
Eng. Ammar Bahman
Objectives
To determine the venturi meter coefficient of discharge and to study the
dependence of this discharge coefficient on the flow Reynolds number.
To compare the ideal pressure distribution along a venturi meter with the measured
one.
Data:
For table 1:
s
t
V
V
avg
a
a
/ m 10 91722 . 4
01 . 61
03 . 0
3
47 . 60 56 . 62 60
03 . 0
3 4
.

+ +

m 016 . 0 D D
3
*

V= 30 lit
( )
4 -
2 / 1
4
*
2 *
10 9.6226
/ 1
2
4

]
]
]
]

D D
g
D C

( ) ( ) s h h C V
th
/ m 10 4.73369 028 . 0 27 . 0 ) 10 6226 . 9 (
3 -4 2 / 1 4 2 / 1
3 2

s m D V u
th
/ 2.35435
4
2
3 3

,
`

.
|

For table 2:
m 016 . 0 D D
3
*

m 026 . 0 D
2

For table 3:
s m / 10 004 . 1
2 6

T = 20
o
C
Tables:
Table 1: Measurements of pressure distribution at maximum flow rate.
Piezometer
Tube. No.
D
i
mm
h
i
mm water
Pressure coefficient
Ideal
4
i
*
4
*
D
D
D
D

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|
Measured
( )

,
`

.
|

g 2
u
h h
2
3
2 i
A=2 26 270 0 0
B 23.2 259 -0.0828 -0.0389
C 18.4 165 -0.4283 -0.3716
D=3 16 28 -0.8566 -0.8566
E 16.8 44 -0.6793 -0.8000
F 18.47 126 -0.4197 -0.5097
G 20.16 171 -0.2533 -0.3504
H 21.84 202 -0.1446 -0.2407
J 23.53 219 -0.0704 -0.1805
K 25.24 235 -0.0181 -0.1239
L 26 240 0 -0.1062
Sample calculation for 2
nd
row of table 1 :
Ideal :
0.0828 -
0259 . 0
016 . 0
026 . 0
016 . 0
4 4
4
*
4
*

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|

,
`

.
|
i
D
D
D
D
Measured:
( )
0389 . 0
81 . 9 2
354 . 2
0.270 - 0.259
2
2 2
3
2

,
`

.
|

g
u
h h
i
Table 2: Measurements at various flow rates.
Run
No.
V

L
t
s
Piezometric head
h
2
mm
h
3
mm
h
4
mm
1 30 61.01 270 28 240
2 30 65.82 279 61 248
3 25 58.87 285 101 257
4 25 63.59 285 133 261
5 20 57.84 289 164 267
6 20 64.44 291 196 272
7 15 53.68 296 222 283
8 15 63.35 299 249 290
Table 3: Calculations at various flow rates.
Run
No.
a
V

m
3
/s

3 3
D u
Re
( )
2 / 1
3 2
h h
m
1/2
th
V

m
3
/s
Cd Cm R
1
0.000492 37519.46 0.492 0.000473 1.0388 0.001 0.8760
2
0.000456 35610.42 0.467 0.000449 1.0145 0.000976 0.8578
3
0.000425 32715.82 0.429 0.000413 1.0288 0.00099 0.8478
4
0.000393 29735.19 0.390 0.000375 1.0479 0.001008 0.8421
5
0.000346 26965.21 0.354 0.00034 1.0164 0.000978 0.8240
6
0.00031 39777.12 0.522 0.000502 1.0465 0.001007 0.8000
7
0.000279 20747.45 0.272 0.000262 1.0675 0.001027 0.8243
8
0.000237 17054.3 0.224 0.000215 1.1004 0.001059 0.8200
Sample calculation for 2
nd
row of table 3:
s m
t
V
V
a
/ 0.000456
3

35610.42 Re
3 3

D u
( ) 0.467
2 / 1
3 2
h h
( ) 0.000449
2 / 1
3 2
h h C V
th

1.0145
th
d
V
a V
C

0.000976 C C C
d m
0.8578
3 2
3 4

h h
h h
R
Figures
-1
-0.9
-0.8
-0.7
-0.6
-0.5
-0.4
-0.3
-0.2
-0.1
0
-100 -50 0 50 100 150
position of piezometer tubes
P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e

d
i
s
t
r
i
b
u
t
i
o
n
s
measured
ideal
Figure 1: Pressure coefficient for ideal and measured versus distance from inlet to contraction section.
0
0.00005
0.0001
0.00015
0.0002
0.00025
0.0003
0.00035
0.0004
0.00045
0.0005
0.000 0.100 0.200 0.300 0.400 0.500 0.600
(h3-h2)^2
V Series1
Figure 2: Relationship between the flow rate and (h2-h3)
2
.
0.0000
0.2000
0.4000
0.6000
0.8000
1.0000
1.2000
0 10000 20000 30000 40000
Re
C
d
&
C
m
discharge coefficient
meter coefficient
Figure 3: Relationship between the meter and discharge coefficient with the Reynolds number
0.0000
0.1000
0.2000
0.3000
0.4000
0.5000
0.6000
0.7000
0.8000
0.9000
1.0000
0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000 35000 40000
Re
R Series1
Figure 4: Relationship between the recovery ratio and the Reynolds number.
Discussion
The ideal and measured pressure distribution of the flow through the venturi meter is
shown in fig.1. It can be seen, that the pressure is minimum at the throat section, this is due
to the increase in velocity as the diameter decreases across the length of the tube. So
therefore, the diameter of the tube is inversely proportional to the velocity, while
proportional to the pressure of the fluid flowing through the tube. It is noticed that the
curve for the measured pressure does not return to zero as the ideal one this is due to losses
during the flow.
The value of Coefficient of discharge is greater than one in our results, since the coefficient
of discharge represents the ratio of actual flow rate to the measure flow rate. Therefore a
value higher than one means that the actual flow rate is greater than the ideal one which is
not possible. This results is most likely due to errors in the apparatus used. Also ,From
Fig.3 it is seen that the venturi meter coefficient (C
m
) and the discharge coefficient values
oscillate between 0.001 to 0.001059 , 1.0145 to 1.1004 respectively. The Relation ship
between the Recovery ratio and Reynolds number is shown in fig.4 notice the recovery
ratio represents the difference between the actual and ideal pressure ratio distributions and
is always below 1 as seen in fig.4.
The reasons for errors can be as follows:
The water level was fluctuating in the manometers because of the vibration in the
equipment while readings were being recorded.
If the water level reading is not taken from a proper view level, it will result in
parallax error.
The recorded time readings will have some inaccuracy because of time delay
caused by human reaction time. (i.e. not stopping the watch at exact time)
The flow rates will be effected by the friction in the inner walls of the Venturi
meter.
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the results of the experiment that, Venturi meter can be used
to determine the coefficient of discharge for a given fluid. Also, Venturi meter can
display the trend of pressure distribution, as the fluid passes through a tube with
variable inner diameter. Also, the pressure distribution can be measured in many
different locations inside the tubes. In the throat section the velocity is maximum and
pressure distribution is minimum.