2.

5 Cross-Correlation Flow Metering Receiver

B. G. LIPTK (1982, 1995) H. M. HASHEMIAN (2003) FT

Correlation

Flow Sheet Symbol

Current Applications Pumped paper pulp, pneumatically conveyed coal dust, cement, grain, plastic gran-
ules, chalk, water flow in nuclear and industrial plants, and animal foodstuffs

Sizes Practically unlimited

Cost A 4-in 150 # mass flowmeter with epoxy-resin-lined, enameled steel pipe costs $6000.
If the sensor costs are not considered, the electronic detector alone is around $2000.
Nuclear power plant flow metering installations range from $25,000 to $50,000.

Partial List of Suppliers Analysis and Measurement Services Corp. (www.ams-corp.com)

Endress+Hauser Inc. (www.us.endress.com)
Kajaani Electronics Ltd. (Finland)

The oldest and simplest methods of flow measurement are Ultrasonics

the various tagging techniques. Here, a portion of the flow- Gamma radiation
stream is tagged at some upstream point, and the flow rate Capacitive density
is determined as a measurement of transit time. Variations of Conductivity
this technique include particle tracking, pulse tracking, and
dye or chemical tracing, including radioactive types. The
advantages of tagging techniques include the ability to mea- Position B Transport Pipe
sure the velocity of only one component in a multicomponent Position A
y
flowstream without requiring calibration or pipeline penetra- Dela
Time
tion. For example, electromagnetic tagging of gas-entrained
particles allows for the determination of their speed through
the detection of their time of passage between two points that Flow
are a fixed distance from each other. n(t)
1,2
Flow metering based on correlation techniques is sim-
ilar in concept to the tagging or tracing techniques, because m(t)
it also detects transit time. As illustrated in Figure 2.5a, any A
measurable process variable that is noisy (displays localized
variations in its value) can be used to build a correlation Upstream
flowmeter. The only requirement is that the noise pattern must m(t)
Transducer Signal
persist long enough to be seen by both detectors A and B as
the flowing stream travels down the pipe. Flow velocity is Time t
obtained by dividing the distance (between the identical pair
Transit
of detectors) by the transit time. In recent years, the required
Time
electronic computing hardware, with fast pattern recognition
capability, has become available. Consequently, it is feasible
3 Downstream
to build on-line flowmeters using this technique. n(t)
B Transducer
The following process variables display persistent enough
Signal
noise patterns (or local fluctuations) that correlation flowme-
ters can be built by using an identical pair of these sensors:
Time t
Density
Pressure FIG. 2.5a
Temperature Cross-correlation flow metering.

183
2003 by Bla Liptk
184 Flow Measurement

Several of the above process variables (such as temper- T1

4,5 6
ature, gamma radiation, and capacitive density ) have Flow Direction
been investigated as potential sensors for correlation flow-
T2
meters. One instrument has been developed that uses the
principle of ultrasonic cross-correlation to measure heavy-
3
water flow. Others are available for paper pulp applications
using photometric sensors and for solids flow measurement
utilizing capacitance detectors (Figure 2.23v). For cross-
correlation flowmeters applied in solids flow applications, Pipe
x(t)
refer to Section 2.23.
When fully developed, correlation flow metering can
extend the ability to measure flow not only into the most y(t)
hostile process environments but also into areas of multiphase

Sensor X Output
flow and into three-dimensional flow vectoring.
Upstream
Sensor Signal

NUCLEAR POWER PLANT APPLICATIONS

Time
Most process variables fluctuate, so the outputs of most
process sensors undergo variations in their output. These Transit
Sensor Y Output Time
variations can also be exploited to obtain cross-correlation
flow sensors. More specifically, process sensors that nor- Downstream
mally measure temperature, pressure, radiation, or other pro- Sensor Signal
cess variables can also be used to determine the velocity of
fluid flow. This can be done passively by recording the sensor
output for a period of time and extracting the fluctuating T1 T2 Time
component of the output (called the AC signal). If a pair of
FIG. 2.5b
sensors are installed in the same pipe at a known distance
Illustration of principle of cross-correlation flow monitoring.
from each other, flow velocity can be obtained by cross-
correlating the two AC signals from these two sensors. Once
the fluid flow velocity is determined, the volumetric or mass
flow rate can be calculated on the basis of the physical
dimensions of the process piping and the properties of the
fluid. = Transit Time

Determining the Transit Time Rxy(t)

The principle of cross-correlation flow measurement is illus-

trated in Figure 2.5b, where a pipe is shown with two sensors
installed some distance apart. Also shown in Figure 2.5b are
the AC outputs of these two sensors. The output of one sensor
is represented by x(t), and the output of the other sensor is Time Shift (t)
represented by y(t). These output signals may be cross-
correlated to identify the transit time between the two sen- FIG. 2.5c
sors. The transit time is the time required for the process fluid Cross-correlation plot and illustration of transit time.
to travel between the two sensors. To obtain the fluid flow
velocity, the transit time has to be divided by the distance
between the two sensors. time that is equal to the transit time, as illustrated in
To cross-correlate the outputs of two sensors, first the Figure 2.5c.
two output signals are multiplied by each other, after which The cross-correlation function (Rxy) for the signals x(t)
the second signal is slowly shifted, a little bit at a time, toward and y(t) is given by the following equation:
the first signal until the two signals are superimposed. The

x(z)y(t + z)dz
averaged product of the two signals is then plotted as a
Rxy (t ) = 2.5(1)
function of the time shift. This plot will normally peak at a

2003 by Bla Liptk

 2.5 Cross-Correlation Flow Metering 185

In this equation, t is the time interval that one signal is shifted 180
toward the other, and z is the integration variable.
The cross-correlation function, Rxy , will normally have
values between +1.0 and 1.0, provided that x and y are
135

Phase (Degrees)
constructed from mean-removed raw signals divided by their
standard deviations. Values close to +1.0 indicate a good 90
direct correlation between two signals, and values close to 1.0
indicate a good inverse correlation. Conversely, when there
45 Slope = 16.2/Hz
is little or no correlation between the two signals, the value Transit Time Estimate = 44.4 msec
of Rxy , will approach zero.
The transit time can also be obtained from plotting the 0
0 2 4 6 8 10
phase between the two signals as a function of frequency. Frequency (Hz)
For this, the slope of the phase as a function of frequency is
used to calculate the transit time as follows: FIG. 2.5d
Phase plot and calculation of transit time.
2F =

slope (Degrees / Hz) 2.5(2)

= = 80
2F 360 (Degrees)

60
where
= transit time (sec)
Phase (Degrees)

= change in FFT phase (degrees) 40

F = frequency band of highest coherence
(Hz or sec ) over which occurs
1

2 (radians) = 360 20
Phase Data
Linear Fit
To eliminate the effects of process variations that are not
0
related to flow, the slope is calculated over the region of the 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
phase spectrum where the two signals are most coherent. Frequency (Hz)

Figure 2.5d shows a phase vs. frequency plot and the calcu-
lation of the transit time. As shown by Equation 2.5(2) and
Figure 2.5d, the transit time is calculated by dividing the
slope of the phase plot by 360.
Reliability and Accuracy
The reliability of cross-correlation flow metering is improved
if
1. The response times of the two sensors are similar and
fast compared to the spectrum of the process and the
transit time that must be resolved.
2. The correlation between the data does not occur at or
after the break frequency of the sensor and/or the data
acquisition system.
3. The information being correlated can be resolved from
the effects of other process perturbations and noise.
In theory, any two sensors can be used to provide signals
for cross-correlation flow measurements as long as the two
sensors can register a process parameter that affects the out-
put of both sensors. For example, signals from two temper-
ature sensors (thermocouples, RTDs, and so forth) or two
pressure sensors can be cross-correlated to determine fluid
flow rate. Figure 2.5e shows a phase plot for two RTDs. This
FIG. 2.5e
Cross-correlation phase plot for a pair of RTDs.
information was generated in a laboratory test loop where
cross-correlation flow equipment and techniques were devel-
oped and validated. The plot shows the experimental data as
well as the least-squares fit to the data. The least-squares fit
provides the slope of the line that is then divided by 360 to
obtain the transit time. Based on these laboratory experiments,
it has been determined that the error in cross-correlation-
based flow measurement is less than 3%.
Even dissimilar sensors, such as a temperature and a
pressure detector, can be used for cross-correlation flow mea-
surement if the temperature and pressure measurements are
related.
Nuclear Power Applications
The cross-correlation technique of flow metering has been
used successfully in nuclear power plants by using the ther-
mal hydraulic fluctuations within the reactor coolant system,
which are detectable by temperature, pressure, and radiation
sensors. For example, the signals from temperature and
neutron detectors have been cross-correlated to monitor the

2003 by Bla Liptk

186 Flow Measurement

Illustration of Correlation Function 8

1.0

Detector Output (millivolts)

4

0.5
Correlation Function

Correlation Function
Peak at 60 msec
0.0 4

440A
440C

8
0.0 0.5 1.0
0.5 Time (sec)
0 25 50 75 100
Time (msec)
FIG. 2.5g
FIG. 2.5f Examples of raw data for a pair of sensors used for cross-correlation
Plot of correlation function for a pair of signals from a thermocou- flow measurements.
ple and a neutron detector.

flow through the core. Figure 2.5f shows a cross-correlation

plot for a thermocouple that is installed on top of the reactor
core inside a pressurized water reactor (PWR) and a neutron
detector located outside the reactor at a lower elevation than
the thermocouple. This method is not normally used for flow
measurements in nuclear power plants. Rather, it is used for
monitoring flow rate changes and for detecting flow block-
ages within the reactor coolant system.
A more direct means of flow measurements in PWR
plants is to cross-correlate the signals from a pair of nitrogen
16 (N-16) radiation detectors that are installed on the reactor
coolant pipes. The N-16 detectors measure the gamma radi- FIG. 2.5h
ation produced in the reactor water by the neutron bombard- Photograph of TTFM system. (Courtesy of Analysis and Measure-
ment of oxygen-16. When oxygen-16 is bombarded by fast ment Services Corp. [AMS].)
neutrons, an unstable isotope of nitrogen is produced, which
is N-16. It decays rapidly while emitting gamma radiation.
Even though it decays rapidly, N-16 activity lasts long
As shown in Figure 2.5i, the DC component of each
enough to measure the gamma radiation as the water circu-
signal is removed by a highpass filter or by a bias that is
lates in the reactor coolant loop. This method of flow mea-
surement is often referred to as transit-time flow measurement added to or subtracted from the signal. The remaining com-
(TTFM). Figure 2.5g shows two raw data records for a pair ponent (the AC signal) is then amplified and sent through
of N-16 detectors in a PWR plant. a lowpass filter to remove the extraneous noise and to pro-
vide for anti-aliasing. A computer with a built-in analog-
Data accumulated for a period of only one second is shown,
although data can be collected for periods of 1 or 2 h if high to-digital converter (A /D) then samples the signals and
measurement accuracy is desired. If the purpose of the mea- performs the cross-correlation to identify the transit time
surement is only to detect sudden flow changes or blockages, and calculate the flow. Typically, the cross-correlation anal-
then shorter data recording periods are adequate. ysis is performed in both the time domain, using the cross-
correlation plot, and in the frequency domain, using the
phase plot, and the results are averaged to provide the fluid
The TTFM System flow velocity.
The TTFM software not only collects the data, it performs
The TTFM system (Figure 2.5h) includes a signal condition- data qualification and statistical analysis to ensure that the
ing circuit shown in Figure 2.5h. This circuitry is used to signals are suitable for analysis, the sensors have comparable
extract the AC signals that are cross-correlated for flow mea- response times, and the cross-correlated AC signals have the
surement. The raw signal typically contains a DC component required statistical and spectral properties. Figure 2.5j shows
on which the AC signal of interest is superimposed. a block diagram of the entire TTFM system.

2003 by Bla Liptk

 2.5 Cross-Correlation Flow Metering 187

v v v v

t t t t

High-Pass Low-Pass
X Filter or Amplifier Filter
DC Bias

A/D Computer

High-Pass Low-Pass
Y Filter or Amplifier
Filter
DC Bias Samples Data
Performs data qualification
and statistical analysis
Performs Cross Correlation

Remove Amplify Anti-Aliasing Identifies Transit Time

DC Component AC Component Filter Calculates Fluid Flow Rate
Prints Out Results
Prints Out Raw Data
Stores Results

FIG. 2.5i
Block diagram of data acquisition system of TTFM.

Instrumentation
Amplifier with
Signal Signal A/D Converter
DC Offset and
Pair Isolators with Amplification
Anti-Aliasing Filter

Results Report

Data Analysis
Data
Time/Frequency
Qualification
Domain

Statistical
Analysis

FIG. 2.5j
Block diagram of TTFM system.

2003 by Bla Liptk

188 Flow Measurement

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2003 by Bla Liptk