MOUTHPIECE:

A mouthpiece is a short tube of length not more than two to three times its diameter, which is
fitted to a tank for measuring discharge of the flow from the tank. By fitting the mouthpiece, the
discharge through an orifice of the tank can be increased.
Classification of mouthpieces:
1). Depending upon their position with respect to the tank they are classified as
External mouthpieces
Internal mouthpieces
2). Depending upon their shape they are classified as
Cylindrical mouthpieces
Convergent mouthpieces
Convergent-divergent mouthpieces
3). Depending upon the nature of discharge at the outlet of mouthpiece they are classified as
Mouthpieces running full
Mouthpieces running free.
Flow through an External Cylindrical Mouthpiece
Consider a cylindrical mouthpiece of cross-sectional area , which is attached externally to the
tank as shown in Fig. 1. The tank is filled with a liquid of specific weight up to a constant height
above the center of the mouthpiece. The discharge from the tank through the mouthpiece, compared
to that of orifice, can be increased by
Running the mouthpiece full so that the jets of liquid emerging from the mouthpiece will be of
same diameter as that of mouthpiece.
maintaining a sufficient pressure-head in the tank so as to achieve the mouthpiece running
full.
A mouthpiece will be running full, if its length is equal to about two to three times its diameter
and the pressure head in the tank is maintained at some critical level. Any deviation in full running
condition of mouthpiece will result in the formation of vena-contracta as in case of orifice. Referring
to the Fig. 1, if ha and hc represents the absolute pressure head at section b-b (atmospheric) and at
vena-contracta, hLis the head loss through the mouthpiece, Vc is the velocity of the jet at venacontracta, then applying Bernoulli's equation between the free surface of the liquid in the tank and

section b-b , we get,

(1)
Similarly, between the free surface of the liquid and section c-c

(2)
The expression for head loss

where

can be written as,

is the contraction coefficient