Measurement of flow rate, velocity

profile and friction factor in Pipe

Flow

S. Ghosh, M. Muste, M. Marquardt, F. Stern

Overview
Purpose
Experimental design
Experimental Process

Test Set-up
Data acquisition
Data reduction
Uncertainty analysis
Data analysis

Purpose
Provide hands-on experience with pipe stand facility and
modern measurement systems including pressure
transducers, pitot probes and computer data acquisition
and data reduction.
Comparison between automated and manual data
acquisition systems.
Measure flow rate, velocity profiles and friction factor in
smooth and rough pipes.
Determine experimental uncertainties.
Compare results with benchmark data

Experimental Design
The facility consists of:
Closed pipe network
Fan
Reservoir

Instrumentation:
3 Venturi meters
Contraction Diameters
(mm):

12.7

25.4

52.9
3

Simple water Manometer

0.915
0.93
0.93
Flow Coefficient, K
Differential Water manometer
7
5
Pitot Probe
Digital Micrometer (Accurate radial positioning)
Pressure transducer
Computer based Automated Data Acquisition System (DA)

Experimental process

Test set-up

Test Set-up: Venturi meter and Pitottube housing

Venturimeter

Pitot-tube housing

Test set-up: Instrumentation

The equipment used in the experiment includes:
Digital thermometer with a range of 40 to 450 F and a smallest reading of
0.1 F for measurement of the environment temperature.
Digital micrometer with least significant digit 0.01 mm for positioning the
Pitot-tube inside the pipe.
Simple water manometer with a range of 2.5 ft and a least scale division of
0.001 ft for measurement of the head at each pressure tap along the pipes and
for measurement of velocities using the Pitot-tube arrangement .
Differential water manometer with a range 3 ft and a least scale division of
0.001ft for measurement of the head drop across the Venturi meters.
Pressure transducer calibrated with ft of water

Test set-up: Instrumentation

Reservoir:

Digital Micrometer:

To build up pressure and force the air

to flow downstream through any of the
three straight experiment pipes.

Allows the measurement of the position

of the Pitot probe at different locations
along the cross section of the pipe tested

Pitot Probe:

Venturi meters:

Located in the glass-wall box

Used to measure the Stagnation
pressure and calculate the velocity
profile in pipe

Located on each pipe type

Used to measure flow rate Q along the
differential water manometer

Pressure Taps:

Manometers:

Located along each pipe, they are

connected to the simple water
manometer to evaluate the head
measurement
They are used to calculate the friction
factor

To measure the head at each pressure

Tap along the pipe and to make the Pitottube measurements (simple Manometer)
To measure head drops across the
venturi meters (differential Manometer)

Data acquisition
The procedures for data acquisition and reduction are described as follow:
1.

2.

3.

4.

Use the appropriate Venturi meter, (2 contraction diameter) to measure

the total discharge. Increase blower setting from 15% to 35% with 5%
increments and measure flow rate using both manometer and pressure
transducer.
Take reading for ambient air (manometer water) and pipe air
temperatures.
To obtain velocity data, use the Pitot-tube box to measure the ambient
head and stagnation heads across the pipe. Measure the stagnation heads
at radial intervals. The recommended radial spacing for one half of the
diameter is 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 23, and 24 mm.
Maintaining the discharge at 35%, measure the head along the pipe by
means of the ADAS the pressure heads at pressure taps 1, 2, 3, and 4

5.

Repeat step 2

Automated Data Acquisition System

P it o t - T u b e
H o u s in g

T e s te d P ip e

S t a t ic P r e s s u r e f r o m P r e s s u r e T a p s

To
A tm o s p h e re

To
A tm o s p h e re

D A 2

DA 1

D if f e r e n t i a l
M a n o m e te r

S ta tic
P re s s u re
S ta g n a t io n
P re s s u re

P re s s u re
T ra n sd u c e r
V a lv e
M a n ifo ld
V e n tu r i M e te r

LEGEND
T y g o n T u b in g
C o n n e c t io n s

R e tu r n P ip e

(a)

(b)

Layout of the data acquisition systems: a) photo; b)

schematic

S im p le
M a n o m e te r

Introduction to ADAS Software Labview

Front panel on Data Acquisition program

Initial settings

Flow rate measurement

Friction factor measurement

Velocity profile measurement

Data reduction
For the flow rate and friction
factor, the individual
measurements are performed
for:

Ambient air temperature

Pipe air temperature
Pipe pressure head
Venturi meter pressure head drop

Data reduction equations

are:
o

w f (Tw )

air f (Tairo ) air f (Tairo )

Q KAt 2 gZ DM

The experimental Results are:

Manometer water density

Air density
Kinematic viscosity
Flow rate
Reynolds number
Friction factor

w
air

4Q
Re
D air

g 2 D 5 w
f
Z SM i Z SM j
2
8 LQ air

Data reduction equations: Flow rate

pa Va2 pb Vb2

( Bernoulli )
g 2 g g 2 g

Va Aa Vb Ab (Continuity )
Volumetric flow rate

Q AbVb

Q CD
K CD

Equation (1), lab handout

Q KAt 2 gz DM

Aa Ab

2 gh(

Aa2 Ab2
Aa Ab
Aa2 Ab2

w
a

w
1) ,
a

Friction factor

P it o t - T u b e
H o u s in g

T e s te d P ip e

S t a t ic P r e s s u r e f r o m P r e s s u r e T a p s

To
A tm o s p h e re

To
A tm o s p h e re

D A 2

DA 1

D if f e r e n tia l
M a n o m e te r

S ta tic
P re s s u re
S ta g n a tio n
P re s s u re

P re s s u re
T ra n s d u c e r
V a lv e
M a n ifo ld
V e n tu ri M e te r
R e tu r n P ip e

S im p le
M a n o m e te r
LEGEND
T y g o n T u b in g
C o n n e c tio n s

Friction factor (contd.)

g 2 D 5 w
f
z SM i z SM j
8LQ 2 a

Equation 2 is a form of Darcy Weisbach equatio

in terms of flow rate Q and pressure drop whe
and A is the pipe cross sectional area.

Velocity profile

p0 p stat

1
V 2 , Bernoulli
2

V 2( p0 p stat ) /

2 g w

u (r )
z SM Stagnation r z SM Static
a

Equation 3, Exercise notes

pstag pstat w g ( z SM stag z SM stat );

p0 pstag

1/ 2

Data reduction:
Spreadsheet

Uncertainty analysis
Block diagram of the
experimental determination of
the Friction factor

Block diagram of the Velocity

measurement

E X P E R IM E N T A L E R R O R S O U R C E S

E X P E R IM E N T A L E R R O R S O U R C E S

TEM PERATUR E
W ATER

Tw
, PT

T w

TEM PERATURE
A IR

P IP E
PRESSURE

VENTURI
PRESSURE

IN D IV ID U A L
M EASUREM ENT
SYSTEM S

T a
, P

z SM
B z
, Pz
SM
SM

z DM
B z
, Pz
D M
DM

M EASUREM ENT
O F IN D IV ID U A L
V A R IA B L E S

T a

= F (T )
w
w
a = F (T a )
Q = F ( z

DM

f = F ( , , z
w

SM

, Q

g D

8LQ

B f , Pf

w
- z
(z
)
a SM i SM j

D A T A R E D U C T IO N
E Q U A T IO N S

TEM PERATURE
W ATER

, PT

, PT

s ta g

2(z

, , z
a

SM

, z
s ta g

SM

) =
s ta t

B u, P

S M s ta g

Bz
, Pz
SM
SM

= F (T )
w
w
= F (T a )
a
u = F (

E X P E R IM E N T A L
R E S U LTS

S T A T IC
PRESSURE

S T A G N A T IO N
PRESSURE

TEM PERATURE
A IR

S M s ta g

s ta g

- z

S M s ta t

Bz
, Pz
SM
SM
s ta t

S M s ta t

) g
w

s ta t

IN D IV ID U A L
M EASUREM ENT
SYSTEM S
M EASUREM ENT
O F IN D IV ID U A L
V A R IA B L E S

D A T A R E D U C T IO N
E Q U A T IO N S

E X P E R IM E N T A L
R E S U LT

Uncertainty Analysis
The data reduction equation for the friction factor is:

g 2 D 5 w
f
z SM i z SM j
2
8 LQ a

However here we will only consider bias limits for ZSM i and ZSM j . The total
uncertainty for the friction is:
2
2
2

U f B f Pf

The Bias Limit, Bf and the precision limit, Pf, for the result are given by:
j

B i2 Bi2 Z2SMi BZ2SMi Z2SMj BZ2SM j

2
f

i 1

Pf

tS f
M

Uncertainty Analysis

(continue)

Data Reduction equation for the velocity profile is as follow:

2 g w

u (r )
z SM Stag r z SM Stat
a

1/ 2

U B P
2
u

2
u

Bu2 i2 Bi2 Z2SM

i 1

stagn

2
u

BZ2SMstagn Z2SM BZ2SM

tS u
Pu
M

stat

stat

Data Analysis: Results and

discussions
Moody Chart for pipe friction with smooth and rough walls
L a m in a r
F lo w

C r itic a l
Zone

T ra n s itio n
Zone

0 .1 0
0 .0 9 0
0 .0 8 0

C o m p le te T u r b u l e n c e , H y d ra u lic a lly R o u g h
0 .0 5
0 .0 4

0 .0 7 0

0 .0 3

0 .0 5 0

0 .0 2
0 .0 1 5

0 .0 4 0

0 .0 1
0 .0 0 8
0 .0 0 6

F r ic t io n F a c t o r f =

0 .0 3 0

0 .0 0 4

0 .0 2 5

0 .0 0 2

0 .0 2 0

0
0
0
0

H y d r a u lic a lly S m o o th
0 .0 1 5

.0
.0
.0
.0

0
0
0
0

1
08
06
04

R e la t iv e R o u g h n e s s , /D

h f

(L /D )V /(2 g )

0 .0 6 0

0 .0 0 0 2
0 .0 0 0 1

k /D = 0 .0 0 0 0 0 5

0 .0 1 0
0 .0 0 9

0 .0 0 0 0 5

k /D = 0 .0 0 0 0 0 1

0 .0 0 8
10

10

10

10

R e y n o ld s N u m b e r , R e =

0 .0 0 0 0 1
10

10

VD

Benchmark data for Friction Factor

Low speed = 44 m/s

Smooth Pipe (2) low speed
Rough Pipe (2) low speed

07/10/03

Data Analysis: Results and

discussions (contd.)
r/R

u/umax

0.0000

1.0000

0.1000

0.9950

0.2000

0.9850

0.3000

0.9750

0.4000

0.9600

0.5000

0.9350

0.6000

0.9000

0.7000

0.8650

0.8000

0.8150

0.9000

0.7400

0.9625

0.6500

0. 8

Rough pipe - Low Speed

0. 6

Smooth pipe - Low Speed

Rough P ipe - High Speed
Smooth Pipe - High speed

0. 4
Schlichtin g Data

Low speed = 44 m/s

High speed = 62 m/

0. 2

0.9820

0.5850

1.0000

0.4300

0
-1

-0. 8

- 0. 6

- 0. 4

-0. 2

0. 2

0. 4

0. 6

0. 8

r/ R

Benchmark data for velocity profile (Schlichting, 1968)

PIV-Particle Image
Velocimetry

PIV Process

1. Inject flow with Particles

2. Illuminate particles with Light
3. Take snapshots of the particles with a
4.

Camera
Process Images with Software

PIV Equipment

Particles : Very small, neutrally

buoyant, and reflective.
Light: Generated using lasers, LEDS,
and formed into a thin sheet of
light
Camera: Digital camera capable of
taking images at a fast rate
Images: Show movement of particles
with stark contrast
Software: Analyzes patterns of
particles, now pixels, and tracks there
displacement

PIV-continued

PIV Fundamentals-abridged
-PIV measures whole velocity
fields by taking two images
shortly after each other and
calculating the distance
individual particles travelled
within this time. From the known
time difference and the
measured displacement, the
velocity can be calculated
Benefits of PIV
-Pitot tube, thermal
anemometers, laser Doppler
velocimetry,only measure velocity
at points of the flowPIV measures
entire cross section or volume of flow

PIV-Continued

PIV Fundamentals-fine
details
Two camera images are divided in

to similar small tiles, called

interrogation windows.
A pattern of particles is detected in
the interrogation window
The predominant movement of the
pattern from the first image to the
second is measured
The displacement of the pattern
from the first to the second image is
measured in pixel dimensions
The spatial dimensions of the
image are correlated to the pixel
dimensions
The spatial displacement divided
by the time interval of images

PIV-Continued

PIV uses for Lab 2

Apply the continuity equation to

flow field measurements

Calculate flow rate across a varying
cross section orifice

PIV steps for Lab 2

Take at least two images of the flow

Analyze the images
Extract the raw velocity field
measurements
Sample velocity data from two
transverse cross sections of the flow
Extract the mean stream wise
velocity components from each
cross section
Multiply the mean velocity by cross
sectional area to find flow rate

PIV-Continued

PIV equations

Stream wise velocity component

Average flow rate

The End