Lab Report

Experiment Title: Coefficient of discharge

Reported By :
Ali Mohammed Alkebsi

46/2007

Contents

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Abstract
Introduction and Objectives
Method and Equipment
Theory
Procedure steps
Results and calculations
Discussion
Conclusion
References

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Abstract

Predicting the amount of discharging fluid out of a certain reservoir and

estimations of the time required to discharge a certain amount is of great
importance to a mechanical engineer. It sheds the light on how much money is
going to be paid, how much power is needed, and how much time is required.
During this report a method that could be followed for such purposes is
introduced with a proper theory describing the process mathematically. At the
end a discussion of why errors might be present and their sources is presented
in different ways (graphs, tables, and formulas).

Introduction and Objectives

A tank containing water with an orifice on its vertical side and with its surface in
contact with the surrounding atmosphere will at some time be empty or the
water level will reach the bottom of the orifice because the water will seep or
discharge out. The shape and area of the orifice will decide how long it will take
the tank to be emptied. Also the shape and area of the tank as well as the
location of the orifice. Another factor is both the material of the tank and of the
fluid as they affect the viscosity along with the effects of temperature. The
objective of this experiment is to find three theoretical coefficients that relates
the factors mentioned above to our needs. These objectives (coefficients) are:
To find the coefficient of velocity for a small orifice.
To find the coefficient of discharge for a small orifice.
To find the coefficient of contraction for a .................

Method and Equipment

Method:
4

By implementing Bernoullis equation to a tank - with constant head having an orifice of known diameter and tracing the jetting water
trajectory; locating two points along the path.
Then collecting an amount of the jetting fluid water by a volumetric tube
during a period of time set by a stopwatch, thus attaining the flow rate.
Next we consider the case of zero inflow in which the head changes with
time, applying the conservation of mass law to deduce a formula
connecting the time, (timed by a stopwatch) a certain amount of fluid
(collected by a tube) takes to spurt out of the tank or to decrease the level
in the tank from an initial level

ho

to a final level

h2

Equipment:
The F1-10 Hydraulic Bench, and the F1-17a Orifice Discharge.
A volumetric tube and a stopwatch are needed to find the flow rate.
The F1-17a Orifice Discharge device consists mainly of a cylindrical
tank with a small orifice near the bottom of the tank. There is an
adjustable overflow pipe near the top of the tank through which the level
of water in the tank can be perfectly maintained. There are two inlet
hoses one connected to the overflow pipe and the other to the tank,
through which the tank is filled and supplied with water. The tank is
mounted on a frame F1-10 along with a recording system that is used
to measure the jet of water produced from the orifice when in use. The
recording system consists of a clipboard and adjustable pointers. The
pointers can be adjusted in height to correspond with the arc of the
water jet. Paper can be mounted against the clipboard and the position
of the tips of the pointers can be recorded on the paper.

Theory

For constant head

The acceleration of a discharged fluid is the same as that of a falling body

under ideal conditions that is:
neglecting the effects of: air drag, and rotation of fluid particles, which is equal
to the gravity acceleration given as:
y =g

y =+ c 1
y =g

t
y=g + c 1 t+ c 2
2

For the initial values of:

y =0

t = 0,

At
c 1=0

c 2=0

and

y=0,

we get:

. Thus

y=g

t
2

A fluid is discharged from a vertical orifice can be considered as a projectile

with initial
x=v o tcos=v o t
y=g

t2
2

=0

and is formulated as:

for the

x-direction
for the

y-

direction
( x 2 , y 2)

Eliminating t, from both equations we

y=

g x
2 vo

get:

( )

-----------------Eqn(1)

If a tank is partially filled with water at a level h, measured from the surface to
the axis of the vertical orifice with the surface in contact with the atmosphere,
that is a surface subjected to atmospheric pressure, then the fluid will be

discharged from the orifice with a velocity that can be related to both the head
h, of the water and to the gravity g, using the Bernoullis formula as follows:
v 21
p1 v 22
p
+z1 +
= +z2 + 2
2g
g 2g
g

-----------------Eqn(2.a)

Assuming the following simplifications:

v 1=0

, as the water surface is maintained with an inflow equal to the

v 21
2g

outflow and thus the velocity head at point 1 can be neglected

0.

z 1z 2=h

p1= p2

.
as both the points are under atmospheric pressure.

We get from Eqn(2)

v 22
0+h=
2g

which yields:

v 2= 2 gh

If we take a look at Reynolds transport theorem [1] which is written as:

d
d
B syst )=
(
dt
dt

( )

dV +( A)out ( A)

cv

where:

B is any property of the fluid (energy, momentum, etc.)

=

dB
dm

is the intensive value or the amount of B per unit mass in any small

portion of the fluid inside the control volume cv

If, we apply the Reynolds transport theorem to the first law of thermodynamics
the dummy variable B taken as the energy E and after many manipulations
and assumptions neglecting many terms, we would finally arrive to a formula
that looks so much like Bernoullis equation and after we add a factor
8

called

Kinetic-Energy Correction Factor which, when the density is assumed constant,

can be calculated from the following formula:
=

1
u 3
dA
A
avg

( )

From which we predict that it depends on the shape and the

area of the nozzle or of the orifice we are dealing with.

The formula at which we would arrive is
1

v 21
p1
v 22
p2
+ z 1+
= 2
+ z 2+
2g
g
2g
g

-----------------Eqn(2.b)

Hydrodynamic head of the orifice axis section is [2]

H= 2

v 22
p
+ z2 + 2
2g
g

For our case

p2=0

h=z2 z1=H

Which is also called Corioli coefficient is equal to one for the small area

section at the orifice.

There is no friction loss between the axis section and the section at the vena
contract therefore only minor loss may occur due to conversion of potential
energy of liquid in the vessel into kinetic. Thus
v 22
h =
2g

We arrive at a formula that looks

like:

v 22
H= (1+ )
2g

Solving for v 2
v 2=

we get:

1
2 gH
1+

Let us denote

cv=

1
1+

This term is called the velocity coefficient.

v actual =c v (v 2)of Eqn1
v actual

-----------------Eqn(3)

in Eqn(3) is the same as v o in Eqn(1) thus substituting of the new

formula in the falling body Eqn(1) we get :

y=

2
g
x
x2
=
2
2 c v 2 gh
4 cv h

cv=

x
2 yh

-----------------Eqn(4)

If we have the location of two points along the parabola described in Eqn(4) and
like that in the figure we can find c v from the following expression:
cv=

x 2x 1
2 h ( y 2 y 1 )

Unfortunately we did not measure the height of the first point during the
experiment processing. Rather, what was measured is the difference in the
heights of the points that is y , thus

y 1 will be asumed be equal zero

because it is

somewhat at the same height of the orifices axis, and the formula will look like
this:
cv=

x
2 yh

Truth be told, a very big deviation from the real value of

cv

will be present. For

simplification means this value will be overlooked during the calculations but,
at the end of this report a predicted limiting value for this deviation will be
presented in the error analysis in the discussion section.

10

Attention to be drawn to the fact, that velocity does not depend on the
dimensions of the orifice.

They influence slightly to velocity coefficient

cv

only.
Flow rate may be expressed as:
Q= A c v

Where A c is the area at the vena contract.

Cross section of the flow at vena contracts

Ac

may be expressed as:

A c =cc A

Where

is the area at the orifice,

cc

called the coefficient of contraction.

Flow rate will be:

Q=cc A c v 2 gh

If we put c c c v =c d

called the flow rate coefficient or the coefficient of

discharge and solve for c d

cd=

Q
A 2 gh

cc=

cd
cv

we will get:

It is important to mention that the coefficients

cc

cv

and

cd

depend on

the inertial forces and viscous forces present at the section or the point of
interest, in earthly words they are dependent on the Reynolds number.
Relationship of these coefficients with Re for small round orifice, in vertical wall
of the reservoir far from bottom and other walls is shown on this figure.

11

For variable head

If there was no inflow to the tank the level surface of the fluid discharging from
an orifice will descent with time. Appling conservation of mass to a control
volume yields:
m
i m
o= m
cv

But

d mo
=v A c
dt

with

m
i=0

m
o=m
cv

mcv=h A tank

12

c d A orifice 2 gh=

Thus

d
( h A tank )
dt

If we assume the fluid water to be incompressible thus

d
=0
dt

we will get:
A2tank

( )

dt=

2
o

h h2
t= o
c d g /2

cd

dh
c d 2 gh
A 2tank

( )

h h2
= o
t g/2

A tank =

=constant

A 2o

Integrating with initial head ho , and final h2 , yields:

solving for c d

A 2tank

( )
A 2o

V gathered
h

13

then

Procedure Steps
For constant head

1- Turn on the hydraulic bench supporting water flow.

2- Move the overflow handle to sustain a constant head.
3- Record the constant head h from the scale.
4- Spot and record the difference in height and horizontal locations of two
points along the trajectory of the jet using the adjustable pointers.
5- Move the scaled tube to collect the streaming jet starting the stopwatch at
the same time for a certain period say 30s.
6- Record the volume of the water collected during that time.
7- Repeat steps 2 to 6 for four other different heads h.
8- Note any present factor that could affect the results other than those
mentioned.

For variable head

1. After initiating the flow and adjusting, raising the overflow handle to
maximum, fill the tank to the overflow level and turn off the inlet (using
the knob on the bench).
2. Start the stopwatch when the water level reaches a convenient initial head
ho
.
3. Stop it when the water level reaches a convenient final head h2 .
4. Record the time taken along with the chosen convenient values of
h2

ho

and

.
5. Repeat the steps 1 to 4 many times with other heads.
6. During one of the measurements collect the water discharged with the
volumetric tube to obtain the area of the tank.

Results and Calculations

For constant head

14

h mm
371
351
330
310
290

cv=

mm
250
250
250
250
250

mm
56
63
67
73
77

x
2 yh

Q=

V ml
370
405
385
365
355

V
t

cv

Q cm3
12.4161
1
13.3399
2
12.6811
6

0.8672195
2
0.8405937
95
0.8406508
22
0.8309363
08
0.8364994
34

d=3m
m

3 10 m

cd =

Q 106
A 2 gh 103

cc=

cd
cv

12.0901
11.7045
8

2
A= d =
4

t sec
29.8
30.36
30.36
30.19
30.33

7.06858E-06
m2

cd

cc

0.6510534
02
0.7191472
19
0.7050502
97
0.6935328
11
0.6941847

0.75073
7
0.85552
3
0.83869
6
0.83464
0.82986
15

22

16

For variable head

h1
mm
400
360
320
400
400
380
360
340
320

h2
mm
360
320
280
300
280
360
340
320
300

Do =
3mm

Ao =

7.06858E-06

m2

A tank
=

34.5

cm 2

t sec
9.33
10.72
h
11.03
28.5
0.04
32.02
5.2
5.47
5.66
5.901

Vml
138

Cd
0.766
61
0.705
425
0.729
966
0.655
201
0.710
998
0.696
791
0.681
068
0.677
866
0.670
837

17

Discussion
h mm

1. Coefficient of velocity.
Apparently

cv

371

tends to decrease with any

decrease in h, as predicted in the theory section

fig( ). A larger h produces higher v thus bigger Re.
The last point seems to be out of its predicted
range.

351
330
310
290

cv
0.867219
52
0.840593
795
0.840650
822
0.830936
308
0.836499
434

This abnormal condition will be discussed in the error analysis.

Cv

vs

0.88
0.87
0.86
0.85

coefficient of velocity

0.84
0.83
0.82
0.81
280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380

head

18

cv

Error analysis of

If errors in measuring the values of

u x , u y ,uh

assumed

x , y ,h

are present and are

, respectively, their propagation into the deviance of

the calculated c v is hypothesized in statistical analysis as follows:

uc =
v

2
2
cv
cv
cv
. u x +
. u y +
.u
x
y
h h

) (

)(

if we divide by c v we get:

uc
=
cv
v

cv
cv
cv
x
y
h
.u x +
. u y +
.u h
cv
cv
cv

cv
x
1
=
cv
x

)(

)( )

cv
y
1
=
cv
2 y

cv
h 1
=
cv
2h

Thus
uc
=
cv
v

u x 2 u y 2 u h
+
+
x
2 y
2h

)( )( )

It is apparent that the smaller the head h, the higher is the error
resulted, which is the reason of the absurd reading at h=290mm.
Also it is important to mention that the smaller the head h, the higher
error in reading

due to our simplification in the theory section (y 1=0,

y2= y ). Thus again low h greatly amplifies the error propagated to the
results.
Our simplification in the theory section of (y 1=0, y2= y ) could be
reasoned with if we take

u x

equal to the distance from the first point

(x1,y1) to the section of the vena contract or more easily, to the orifice.

19

This will produce a constant deviation from the real value of

cv

as

calculated below:
u x =4.7 cm

the distance mentioned above.

u y =0.05 cm

the uncertainty due to the scale size of 1mm.

uh=0.05 cm

the uncertainty due to the scale size of 1mm.

If we neglect the fourth point from the calculations we will get

c vavg=0.84485

y avg =6.475 cm

x avg=25 cm

havg =34.05 cm

Thus
uc
=0.188
cv
v

and thus

uc =0.16
v

And this deviation is always positive because it is mainly due to the

simplifications made in the theory section.
For four points of calculations the deviation of the mean is:
u^ c =
v

uc

=0.08

And thus a corrected value of c vavg

c v =c vavg+ u^ c =0.925
v

20

will be:

2. Coefficient of discharge.

Apparently

cd

tends to decrease with any

decrease in h, for a range of h, and in other range

the effect is reversed that is

cd

increase with

decrease in h, as predicted in the theory section fig(

).

h mm
371
351
330
310
290

cd
0.651053402
0.719147219
0.705050297
0.693532811
0.694184722

One point seeming odd is the last point in the which the results are
absurd. It will be discussed in the error analysis following.

cd

vs

0.74
0.72
0.7
0.68

coefficient of discharge

0.66
0.64
0.62
0.6
270

290

310

330

head

21

350

370

390

cd

Error analysis of

If errors in measuring the values of

u x , u y ,uh

assumed

t , V ,h

are present and are

, respectively, their propagation into the deviance of

the calculated c d is hypothesized in statistical analysis as follows:

uc =
d

2
2
cd
cd
cd
. ut +
.u y +
.u
t
V
h h

)(

)(

if we divide by c d we get:

uc
=
cd
d

2
2
cd
cd
cd
t
V
h
. ut +
. uV +
.u h
cd
cd
cd

)( )( )

cd
V 1
=
cd
V

cd
t 1
=
cd
t

cd
h 1
=
cd
2h

Thus
uc
=
cd
d

( ) (

ut 2 u V 2 uh
+
+
t
V
2h

)( )

Thus it is again apparent that the lower the head the more the error is
amplified.
Thus after neglecting the final point as it greatly deviates from the
other values the error is calculated as follows:
Human mind response in about 0.7s thus ut will be assumed to equal
0.7 2 s=1 s

at start and at end.

ut =1 s

22

uV =5 2 ml=7.07 ml , which came from 5ml for scale uncertainty and 5ml

for uncertainty of the tube itself

uh=0.05 cm
c davg =0.6922

, as mentioned before
,

V avg=381.25 ml

t avg=30.1775 s

uc
=0.038thus uc =0.026
cd
d

And thus the value of

c dmean

will be equal to:

c dmean =0.6922 0.026

23

3. Coefficient of contraction.
The resulting graph is really unpredictable as it is not
like that predicted in the theory section

h mm
371

Only the first point when compared to others gives the

same principles as those theorized in the theory section
which is:

351
330
310

c c when h when

290

The absurd resulted values at other points might be

due to propagation in error.

cc
0.75073
7
0.85552
3
0.83869
6
0.83464
0.82986
9

It is worth to mention that errors in h does not propagate into errors in c c

and only errors in t , x , y ,V

will propagate to make errors in c c .

This propagation will tend to decrease the value of c c

increases the value of c v

because it

which is inversely related to c c

Thus true c c is definitely smaller than the one acquired by our experiment.
c cave =0.88

Cc

vs

0.88
0.86
0.84
0.82
0.8
coefficient of contraction

0.78
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.7
0.68
280 290 300 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380
head

24

4.

Coefficient of discharge for variable head

Cd

seems to

h2

0.4

0.36

0.04

0.36

0.32

0.04

0.32

0.28

0.04

0.4

0.3

0.1

0.4

0.28

0.12

0.38

0.36

0.02

0.36

0.34

0.02

0.34

0.32

0.02

0.32

0.3

0.02

theorized pattern.
It shows some
head as apparent

h1

Cd
0.766
61
0.705
425
0.729
966
0.655
201
0.710
998
0.696
791
0.681
068
0.677
866
0.670
837

follow our predicted,

dependency on the average

for the last four values
as h thus C d tends

0.78
0.76
0.74
0.72
0.7
0.68
0.66
0.64
0.62
0.6
0.58
1

C d ,ave
=

0.6994
18

25

26

Conclusion
C d ,C v , and C c greatly depend on the inertial and viscous forces, in other words

depend on the section of the orifice or nozzle or the pipe under consideration or
Re, Reynolds number.
C d ,C v , and C c

correction coefficients of discharge, velocity, and contraction,

for practical computations usually - neglecting their dependency on Re are

set as = 0.05;

Cv

= 0.97;

Cc

= 0.64 and

Cd

= 0.62.

Our resulted values

c v =0.925

c d =0.6922

, for constant head

c d =0.69942

, for variable head

c c =0.82

Some of these value ( c v , c d ) are somewhat close to the expected values and
some others ( c c ) are unacceptable.
Errors are greatly human errors from the calibration to the readings recording.
Another great source of error is that we only used two pointers two locate only
two points along the trajectory, if only more points were located, our results
could have been more confident than those usually used.

27

References

1) Frank M. White, Fluid Mechanics, 4th ed, University of Rhode Island,

McGraw-Hill
2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

28