MECE.306.

09-10 - Materials Science Apps Lab

Spring 2017
Department of Mechanical engineering
Kate Gleason College of Engineering
Rochester institute of technology - Dubai

Lab 1- Experiment 2, Validation of Bernoullis equation and Calibrations of Venturi Meter.

Submission: February 20, 2017
Abstract

The Venturi tube is a device used for measuring the rate of flow along a pipe. A fluid (Water in
our lab) moving through the pipe accelerates in the direction of the tapering contraction with an
increase in the velocity in the throat (narrow sections). This is accompanied by a fall in pressure,
the magnitude of which depends on the rate of flow (Q). In this lab we measure the actual flow
rate and calculate the theoretical flow rate values, then compare them. We also learned how the
Bernoullis equation is applied practically in this process.

Introduction

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A Venturi meter is a tube with a constricted throat that increases velocity and
decreases pressure It is used to measure the flow rate (Q), and we can define
the flow rate as the following: it is the volume of water that enters through
the section of the tube in one second. The Venturi meter can measure the
flow rate of both, compressible, and incompressible fluids. Figure (1) shows

the Venturi meter and its components.

The fluid inside the Venturi meter is governed by two main equations. The
first equation is the continuity equation, which is the conservation of mass
equation, and the second equation is the conservation of energy equation,
which is the Bernoullis equation.

The continuity equation= Q1=Q2=Q3

A1V1=A2V2=Q

The conservation of mass The conservation of energy

equation equation

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The objectives of the experiment

1-To validate Bernoullis equation.

2-showing the correlation between the pressure head, velocity head, flow area, and head loss
through an expansion

3-to calculate the theoretical flow rate (Qth) using known inlet and throat cross-sectional areas
and a given pressure using the following formula

4- to calibrate Venturi meter by calculating the coefficient of discharge, and usually the answer
we have to get is around 0.93.

C.d=Qact/Qth

Apparatus used for the experiment

For this experiment we used a TecQuipments H10 flow measurement apparatus.

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 Figure 2.0

Experimental procedure

1. we look at the schematic located on the table of the Venturi meter. It shows the cross-sectional
areas and distances to each point in the Venturi meter. We record these areas.

2. Using the inlet valve, we set the discharge as high as possible (water in all piezometers must
be readable on the each of their scales) making sure that there are no air bubbles in the
piezometer tubes. We record the water heights in all of the piezometers in the table

3. Readjust the valve to change the flowrate. We record all levels and find the actual discharge, Q
= collected volume in a graduated cylinder (m3) per unit time (s).

4.We repeat step 3 more times with the difference in water levels.

Results and graphs

KE vs h
12

10
8

h 6

0
0.00E+00 1.00E-02 2.00E-02 3.00E-02 4.00E-02
KE

From
these results, we can depict that when the difference in height between the
upstream and throat section decreases, the velocity decreases and vice
versa. The reason for that is to balance the equation "A1V1=A2V2".

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Furthermore, figure 3.0 shows the coefficient of discharge and the flow rate
(Q).

Figure 3.0

Cd VS Q
1.2
1
0.8

Cd 0.6
0.4
0.2
0
4.00E-05 6.00E-05 8.00E-05 1.00E-04 1.20E-04 1.40E-04 1.60E-04 1.80E-04

Figure 4.0

Discussion

We can conclude that on Venturi meter, the velocity increase at the

throat section due to low pressure and flow rate. So this means the higher
the pressure is, the slower the velocity is and we get a higher flow rate. But
of course, there are some errors with these results due to Tube reading
errors because of view angle, Person with the stopwatch, instability of
the fluid in the tube. one of the mistakes we did is that we did not read the

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second reading of the pressure gage correctly, so we had to do the
experiment again, because the graph that shows the relationship between
the flow rate and coefficient of discharge will not be accurate.

Data and results table

Delta Time
Ha Hb (h) (s) Vol (L) Q Qth Cd
3.40E- 8.30E- 1.56E- 1.75E- 8.90E-
299 265 02 5.3 04 04 04 01
2.70E- 6.80E- 1.55E- 1.56E- 9.90E-
260 233 02 4.36 04 04 04 01
1.60E- 6.30E- 1.20E- 1.20E- 1.00E+
221 205 02 5.33 04 04 04 00
1.40E- 6.15E- 1.01E- 1.10E- 9.10E-
188 174 02 6.02 04 04 04 01
5.00E- 5.55E- 5.87E- 6.60E-
124 119 03 9.45 04 05 05 0.95
Figure 5.0