1.

INTRODUCTION
Air flow rig experiment describes the internal flow of air in a pipe. The aim of this experiment is to identify the different flow meters and to understand their working principles, to evaluate flow rate using the flow meter data, to understand variation of velocity profiles along the pipes, to construct boundary layer in a pipe for turbulent flow of air and to understand the usage, advantages and calibrations of flow meters. In this experiment, flow is turbulent flow. In turbulent flow the speed of the fluid at a point is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction.[1] It appeaes at high velocities because of the formation of eddies. The factor that determine the point at which turbulence appears in a laminar boundary layer are coordinated by dimeonsionless number which is called Reynold number and described as[2]:

Turbulent flow occurs when Re>4000. Manometers are devices which is used for measuring the pressure differences.

Figure1.1: U-tube manometer Fluid A is immicible with liquid B and less dense than B. As a result of the difference in pressure Pa-Pb, the meniscus in one branch of the U tube is higher than the other, and the vertical distance between the two meniscus h, may be used to measure the difference in pressure.[2] Pressure difference can be calculated as follows: )) ) ) )

To measure the flow of fluids flow meters are used. The velocity measurements depend on pressure differences of the fluid at a specific point of the pipes. The most widely used flow meters are venturi meter, orifice meter and pitot tube. The operations in flow meters are based on the mechanical energy balance, which is called as Bernoulli Equation,

Working principle of orifice meter is: the reduction of the cross section of the flowing stream in passing through the orifice increases the velocity head at the expense of the pressure head, and the reduction in pressure between the taps is measured by manometer.[2]

Figure1.2: Orifice meter

Because of the large friction losses from the eddies generated by the reexpanding jet below the vena contracta, the pressure recovery in an orifice meter is poor. The resulting power loss is one disadvantage of the orifice meter. Moreover, the orifice coefficient depends on the position of the taps. [2] Flow rates can be calculated from:

And then, with known values of Q and P, Co values can be determined from: )

Venturi meter is shown below:

Figure1.3: Venturi meter A short conical inlet section leads to a throat section, then to a long discharge cone. Pressure taps at the start of the inlet section and at the throat are connected to a manometer. In the upstream cone the fluid velocity is increased and its pressure decreased. The pressure drop in this cone is used to measure the flow rate. In the discharge cone the velocity is decreased and the original pressure largely recovered.[2] Pitot tube is a device used to measure the local velocity along a streamline. Pitot tube is an insertion meter type flow meter. In this type of meter, the sensing element, which is small compared to the size of the flow channel, inserted in to the flow fluid. The disadvantages of the pitot tube are that most designs do not give the average velocity directly and that its readings for gases are extremely small.[2] Equation to determine the local velocities by Pitot tube is:

By using the local velocities, we can determine the average velocities from the equation:

Vz in the integral is the velocity distribution obtained by plotting the graph of local velocity vs. r.

Figure1.4: Pitot tube

Friction factor calculations for the experimental data must be carried out using the equation below: