American University of Sharjah

College of Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department
P. O. Box 26666 Sharjah, UAE

LI : Sayem Zafar
Office EB2-45
Tel: 06-5152609
e-mail: szafar@aus.edu

Experiment:FlowRateMeasurement
OBJECTIVES
To show the application of Bernoulli equation for the flow rate measurement and demonstrate
the existence of losses in pipe.

THEORY
Various ways exist of measuring volumetric flow rate. One way to measure the flow rate directly
is called cubing. It works by filling a measuring chamber with a known volume of fluid and
keeping track of the volume of the liquid per unit time. However, most flow meters measure the
flow rate indirectly i.e. by measuring the average velocity V to determine the volumetric flow
rate Q from Q = AV, where A is cross sectional area of flow. The ratio of direct and indirect
volumetric flow rate is called the discharge coefficient.
Venturi Meter
Venturi Meter is a device the measures the flow rate by obstructing the flow at a throat.
Theoretical ideas behind these flow meters are the conservation of mass and the Bernoulli
equation. Applying conservation, the reduction in cross sectional area will contribute to an
increase in velocity. Thus, from Bernoulli equation, this will lead to a decrease of static pressure.
Venturi meter measures the drop in static pressure while the velocity can be calculated using
Bernoulli equation and conservation of mass.

+z + = +z +

.... (e.q.1)

Where

+z

h=

Note: Since there are looses in pipes, station-1 values do not perfectly add up to station-2 values.

Data Required
Area of the pipe
Area of the throat
h1
h2
Volume of liquid in the collecting chamber
Time of measurement

Results

Measured volumetric flow rate i.e. through cubing

Calculated volumetric flow rate
The percent error
Compare the results and determine the discharge coefficient
Discuss why there is a discrepancy in the results