PHYS327

Assignment #2:
Flow Measurement
Thomas Bolstad, ystein Bachmann Strand
March 30, 2011

introduction

This assignment is meant to serve as an introduction of how various flow measurement devices work, and what the limitations of these flow measurement
devices are. and carrying out simple experiments. Because of this, the assignment is split into several smaller parts which in this text will be treated
individually initially, and will be followed by a discussion about the sum of all
these exercises. The sections and their respective lengths will vary depending
on the nature of the different exercises.

Equipment

In this experiment, we will be using the flow rig, The flow rig consists of the
pipe systems, a pressure valve and a flow valve, and several meters. The different meters are listed below in the equipment section, and will be reference
throughout this text.
Pressure transmitter : Wika Tronic 891.13.500
Gamma densitometer : Ronan Density Gauge X96 Process Computer
Orifice meter, gas P/I converter : Holta & H
aland, customer specification
Fuji Electronics FCX-A/C II Series
Turbine meter : Daniel 1401 1P
f/l converter : PR Electronics PR5225
Coriolis meter : Micromotion DS150S RFT9712
Orifice meter, Fluid P/I Converter : Daniel 2 Simplex Fuji Electronics
FCX-A/C II Series
Vortex meter : Yewflo YF104-ALSE4D-S3S3C
Ultrasound meter : Danfoss Sonoflo SONO1000/1200
Signal converter : Sonoflo SONO 1100
Temperature sensor : Thermoelektro AS Pt-100 INOR Pt100 TRS22-2

Exercise 2-a: Flow rig control panel

3.1

Introduction

In this exercise, the student will

Make a user friendly panel in labVIEW which may be used to operate
the flow rig and present the measurements from the various sensors, while
using the following conditions for the VI:

The sampling frequency should be as high as possible

Measurements should be presented numerically as well as in horizontal bar diagrams with different colors for the different instruments.
All measurements should also be plotted in a trend diagram with the
same colors as used in the bar diagrams.
Drive signals to the pump and the gas injection valve are to be represented as percent of full drive signal.
Investigate to what degree it is appropriate to smooth the measurements
using averaging.
Test the system under various conditions
investigate if different flow regimes for vertical gas/liquid flow can be determined.

3.2

Results

During our exercise, we attempted to average results, vs taking reults as we

got them. Some of the instruments gave output that fluctuated significantly
when we took the results live. This was something we did not experience as
much while doing averaging; the results ended up much smoother than without
averaging. So it seems reasonable to use averaging to achieve measurements
which seems more coherent than the alternative.
Due to the high speed involved in getting the flow going, it was hard to
exactly determine the different types of flow beyond determining that there
were usually a mixture of bubble flow and slug flow, but not being able to really
determine how much it was of each.

3.3

LabVIEW

First the input and output is initialized and started. Then the while loop is
entered. The while loop has two sections. One of them reads the input and
translates the voltages to actual measurement numbers. And then represents
them in bar diagrams and in graphs. The other reads input, and transform
them to voltages and then send them out to the pump and gas injection. The

values are averaged over to obtain more smooth plots as opposed to the more
irradic ones that are obtained without averaging.

5
Figure 1: An image of the working VIs block diagram

6
Figure 2: An image of the working VIs front panel

exercise 2-b: Characterization of the orifice

meter (M5)

4.1

introduction

In this exercise, the student will

Determine the opening in the orifice meter through:

Measuring the pressure drop across the orifice when water with a
flow rate of 0 - 20 m3 /h flows through the rig
Take about 20 measurements (each averaging about 1000 instrument
readins), where the flow rates from the Coriolis, vortex, ultrasound
and turbine meters are also recorded.
assuming these instruments represent 4 different true flow rates,
determine the orifice opening by linear regression using these true
values.
Comment on how the results compare to the actual orifice opening,
and which of the results is the most reliable one.
Determine a turndown ratio for the orifice at 10% accuracy when using
the turbine meter as a calibration instrument.
Plot the relationship between measured flow rate from the orifice meter
and the turbine meter as a function of percent of the measurement range.

4.2

Results

Flow[h3 /m]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Pressure Drop[mbar]
0.4767
5.6294
13.5346
25.3421
42.3022
62.4608
88.0553
115.8287
150.0807
184.0597
225.7741
270.0141
325.2744
374.5250
433.5971
497.7981
565.5332
637.0284
716.0472
795.9602

Vortexmeter
0.0016
0.9529
2.9530
4.0466
5.1269
6.2807
7.3449
8.4660
9.6370
10.6481
11.8037
12.8393
13.9973
15.1182
16.2296
17.3407
18.4990
19.6825
20.7999
21.9239

Turbinemeter
0.0220
1.8759
2.9661
4.0545
5.1922
6.3055
7.4661
8.6041
9.7508
10.8101
11.9792
13.0621
14.3078
15.3269
16.5746
17.7166
18.8019
19.9629
21.1930
22.2884

Coriolismeter
1.6560
0.3113
1.4475
2.6103
3.7762
4.9735
6.1706
7.3438
8.5717
9.5913
10.7681
11.9077
13.0835
14.0614
15.2306
16.3847
17.4199
18.5075
19.6629
20.7011

Table 1: The results obtained with the different meters at q going from 0 to 20
m3 /h

The equation for flow rate calculated through pressure drop in an orifice meter,
is given by
s
C Am
2P
2
q=p

(1)

1 (d/D)4
where q is the flow ratio, C is the discharge coeffecient (constant depending on
d 2
the instrument), Am
2 = ( 2 ) , is the area of the opening of the hole in the orifice
meter. d is the diameter of the opening in the orifice meter, D is the diameter of
the pipe, P is the pressure drop over the orifice meter. And is the density of
the fluid going through the pipe. Since were trying to find the orifice opening,
we rearrange the equation to give us an expression for d:
d=(

1
1 C 2 2 P
+ 4 )4
8 q2
D

(2)

Ultrasound
0.9166
2.0232
3.0354
4.1405
5.2094
6.3369
7.4617
8.5229
9.6284
10.7487
11.9463
12.9041
14.1469
15.2551
16.4170
17.3954
18.6270
19.8092
20.8232
21.9232

measurement #
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20

Vortex [mm]
578.10
44.35
32.24
32.22
32.49
32.38
32.59
32.52
32.52
32.55
32.54
32.62
32.71
32.62
32.65
32.69
32.68
32.65
32.69
32.70

Turbine [mm]
155.91
32.45
32.18
32.19
32.32
32.32
32.36
32.30
32.36
32.34
32.34
32.38
32.40
32.43
32.36
32.39
32.45
32.45
32.43
32.46

Coriolis [mm]
22.45
76.91
44.79
39.28
37.27
35.92
35.21
34.63
34.24
34.08
33.88
33.71
33.70
33.67
33.57
33.51
33.55
33.54
33.51
33.53

Ultrasound [mm]
26.46
31.42
31.86
31.91
32.27
32.26
32.37
32.43
32.54
32.42
32.37
32.55
32.56
32.49
32.49
32.65
32.58
32.55
32.68
32.70

Table 2: The table above, gives us the following values of the diameter of the
opening in the orifice meter when we calculate d, the diameter of the orifice
opening using the different flow ratios for the different instruments in equation
(2).
Disregarding the first two or three measurements (depending on the instrument) which are taken before there is enough flow through the meters, the
turbine meter is the meter that has the least variance in its caluclated diameter. Some of which most likely stems from variations in the orifice meters
measurements. So it seems reasonable to trust the turbine meter compared to
the other meters.

Orifice Meter [m3 /h]

0.5332
1.8326
2.8415
3.8883
5.0236
6.1043
7.2479
8.3127
9.4623
10.4789
11.6058
12.6920
13.9304
14.9478
16.0835
17.2331
18.3682
19.4947
20.6685
21.7913

Turbine Meter [m3 /h]

0.022
1.8759
2.9661
4.0545
5.1922
6.3055
7.4661
8.6041
9.7508
10.8101
11.9792
13.0621
14.3078
15.3269
16.5746
17.7166
18.8019
19.9629
21.193
22.2884

deviation[%]
2523.63
2.30
4.20
4.09
3.24
3.19
2.92
3.38
2.95
3.06
3.11
2.83
2.63
2.47
2.96
2.72
2.30
2.34
2.47
2.23

Table 3: Using the values obtained for the orifice meter, and using the diameter given in the experiment sheet (30.5mm), we obtain the following values
between the orifice meter and the turbine meter. As we can see from the table,
, the turndown ratio (within 10%) seems to a bit lower than 1.87 m3 /h to
21.79m3 /h. We investigated this a bit further, by experimenting with the flow
on the rig, and found that when we had the flow at approximatly 1.7 m3 /h, the
error between the two, didnt seem to go beyond 10%

4.3

LabVIEW

The VI in this section is almost identical to the one in section 3. The biggest
notable differences are that the data are written to a file, and that the input is
automized.

10

Figure 3: An image of the working VIs block diagram

11

exercise 2-c: Characterization of the gas injection valve

In this exercise, the student will

Make a LabVIEW VI to determine the characteristics of the gas injection
valve(V1/U1). That is, the void fraction g is to be plotted as a function
of the dive signal to the valve.
Have the pump provide a constant flow rate of 15m3 throughout the exercise.
Record the valve characteristics as the valve drive signal goes from 0% to
40%, and then from 40% to 0%
Record two characteristis; one where the gamma densitometer is used to
measure the void fraction, and one where the void fraction is determined
based on velocity measurements from the gas orifice meter.
Demonstrate the valves dead band and hysteresis in one (the same) plot,
and comment on the results.

The Gas valve goes from 3psi to 15 psi. This means that doing the exercise from
0 % to 40%, we go from 3 psi to 7.8 psi. Since the pressure from the gas valve
directly affects the flow of the mixed water and gas, we automatically adjust to
that by using the turbine meter as a feedback. Through the experiment, the
pump would fluctuate by up to 2 m3 /h due to the steps were taking with the
gas valve. Also of note, is that at 7.8 psi, we only took one measurement
the equation for the gas fraction, is given by:
l =

qgas
qgas + qwater

12

(3)

Gas pressure[psi]
3.000
3.240
3.480
3.720
3.960
4.200
4.440
4.680
4.920
5.160
5.400
5.640
5.880
6.120
6.360
6.600
6.840
7.080
7.320
7.560
7.800

Water density[%]
Going Up Going Down
0.90117
0.96609
0.96293
0.98916
0.96457
0.98664
0.97779
0.98046
0.96759
0.99193
0.97749
0.97620
0.97553
0.95273
0.98157
0.86414
0.97977
0.74490
0.98414
0.58660
0.98072
0.50296
0.98350
0.35626
0.76318
0.22072
0.59243
0.19301
0.46697
0.14997
0.33710
0.13330
0.19675
0.12655
0.16355
0.12048
0.12234
0.11267
0.10983
0.10936
0.10813
0.10813

Diff.
0.06492
0.02623
0.02207
0.00267
0.02434
0.00129
0.0228
0.11743
0.23487
0.39754
0.47776
0.62724
0.54246
0.39942
0.317
0.2038
0.0702
0.04307
0.00967
0.00047
N/A

Orifice Gas
Going Up
0.077
0.053
0.074
0.081
0.073
0.059
0.069
0.065
0.082
0.053
0.064
0.047
3.516
6.816
10.437
13.975
17.661
20.948
24.139
26.292
27.966

Meter[am3 /h]
Going Down
0.061
0.047
0.067
0.078
0.071
0.065
0.049
0.070
0.082
4.770
7.942
11.176
14.282
17.398
20.198
22.705
24.714
26.455
26.707
27.218
27.966

Table 4: Measurements of the water fraction and gas flow with a continious
waterflow of 15 m3 /h and rising and sinking gas pressure, going from 3.0 psi to
7.8 psi.

13

Diff.
0.016
0.006
0.007
0.003
0.002
0.006
0.02
0.005
0.164
4.823
8.006
11.223
10.766
10.582
9.761
8.73
7.053
5.507
2.568
0.926
N/A

Figure 4: Gas fraction going up(red) and down(green) from the gamma densitometer.

14

Figure 5: Gas fraction going up (red) and down (green) calculated from the
data obtained by the orifice gas meter.
As we can see from the above table, the gas fraction is obviously wrong.
After communicating with the other groups this seems to be common for all
the groups. So the logical conclusion seems to be that there either is something
wrong with the implementation of equation 3, something wrong with the flow
(water going into the gas orifice meter when it shouldnt), something wrong
with the meter itself or a combination.

15

5.1

LabVIEW

This LabVIEW VI starts by initializing input and output. The input is then
calculated for the relevant values to the actual measurement variables from
voltages. For the output, the gas pressure is increased stepwise, and the Turbine
Meter value is used as a feedback in the loop to adjust the water pump pressure
close to the value measured by the turbine meter being 15 m3 /h. Everything is
automated in this VI. And it continiously writes averaged values to a file, and
displays them in charts, bars and numerical values.

16

17
Figure 6: An image of the working VIs block diagram

exercise 2-d: Injection of gas in the rig

In this exercise, the student will

investigate the ability of the ultrasound, fuid orifice, vortex and coriolis
meters to handle small quantities of gas in the fluid flow.
plot the deviation from true flow rate (the flow rate measured by the
turbine meter) for each instrument as a function of void fraction.
use about 10 void fractions in the range 0% to 20%, and let the system
stabilize before taking measurements.
Do this for two different liquid flow rates. For example 5 m3 /h and 15
m3 /h

6.1

Results

Through experimenting, we found it hard to get 10 different void fractions

between 0% and 20% using the gamma densitometer as a point of reference.
There seems to be a point where the void fraction is at about 90% where if you
raise the gas pressure, it seems to jump almost immedialty to 80%. So we ended
up using 7 void fractions at 5 m3 /h and 5 void fractions at 15 m3 /h

Turbine
5.119
5.013
5.013
4.951
4.939
4.625
4.611

Turbine
16.218
16.204
16.218
16.197
15.758

Gamma
0.976
0.957
0.952
0.922
0.918
0.854
0.828

Flow
Coriolis
3.506
3.356
3.439
1.945
0.861
0.278
0.267

rate 5 m3 /h
Orifice (Fluid)
5.237
4.991
5.028
4.956
4.921
4.624
4.643

Vortex
5.290
5.178
5.035
3.420
2.404
0.093
0.002

Ultrasound
11.808
-12.502
-12.505
-12.503
-12.503
-12.500
-12.501

Gamma
0.936
0.935
0.935
0.932
0.862

Flow rate 15 m3 /h
Coriolis Orifice (Fluid)
14.802
16.968
14.783
16.960
14.845
16.988
14.774
16.957
7.950
16.212

Vortex
16.321
16.728
16.726
16.720
17.366

Ultrasound
-12.499
-12.503
-12.504
-12.506
-12.504

18

Figure 7: Deviation of the different meters at flow rate of water at about 5 m3 /h

as a function of the water fraction. Compared to the turbine meter, the red line
is the deviation of the ultrasound meter, the green line is the deviation of the
Orifice Meter, the yellow line is the deviation of the coriolis meter and the blue
line is the deviation of the vortex meter

19

Figure 8: Deviation of the different meters at flow rate of water at about 15

m3 /h. as a function of the water fraction. Compared to the turbine meter, the
red line is the deviation of the ultrasound meter, the green line is the deviation
of the Orifice Meter, the yellow line is the deviation of the coriolis meter and
the blue line is the deviation of the vortex meter

6.2

LabVIEW

This LabVIEW VI is pretty similair to the one in section 5. The main difference,
is that there are more meters involved in the measurement, and that instead
of using feedback from the turbine meter as in 5, we use set values which were
found by trial and error as the input to the gas valve.

20

Figure 9: An image of the working VIs block diagram

21