BERNOULLI’S THEOREM

1.0 INTRODUCTION
The venturi is a device for measuring the discharge,Q along the pipe. The fluid flowing in the
pipe is led through a contraction section to a throat, which has a smaller cross-sectional area
than the pipe,so that the velocity of the fluid through the throat is higher than that in the pipe.

The Venturi effect is a jet effect; as with an (air) funnel, or a thumb on a garden hose, the
velocity of the substance increases on the way from the wide section to the narrow
section(throat), and the pressure increases too -- over a smaller surface area, of course, the
same force applied to a smaller area equals a higher pressure in that area. Compared to the
initial flow, this narrowed flow -- with more pressure -- increases draw, it creates more
vacuum in its wake, if one is allowed -- such as a port, open or sealed

The increase of velocity is accompanied by a fall of pressure where the magnitude depends on
the rate of flow. By measuring the pressure drop, the discharge will be calculated. Beyond the
throat the fluid decelerate in a pipe of slowly diverging section, the pressure increases as the
velocity falls.

2.0 PRINCIPLES
Consider the flow of incompressible fluid through the convergent –divergent pipe shown in
Fig. 1. The cross sectional area at the upstream (section 1) is A 1, at the throat (section 2) is A2,
and at any other arbitrary (section n) is An.. Piezometer tubes at these sections registered as
h1,h2 and hn as shown.
Assuming that there is no loss of energy along the hiorizontal pipe, and that the velocity and
piezometer heads are constant across each of the sections considered, then Bernoulli’s
theorem states that

In which u1,u2 and un are the velocities of flow through section 1,2 and n. The equation of
continuity is :

In which Q denoted the volume-flow or discharge rate.

Substituting in equation (1) for u1 from equation (2):

And solving this equation for u2 leads to:

In practice, there is some loss of energy between secions 1 and 2, and the velocity is not
absolutetly constant across either of these conditions. As a results, the measured values of Q
usually fall a little as calculated from equation (3) and this discrepancy is usually written as:
In which Cd is known as the new coefficient of the Venturi meter, which can be established by
experiment. Its values vary slightly from one meter to another even for a given meter it may
vary slightly with discharge usually lies within range 0.92 to 0.99.

The ideal pressure distribution along the convergent-divergent pipe can be derived from
Bernoulli’s equation:

For the purpose of calculation and comparison of the experimental results, it is convenient to
express (hn - h1) as a fraction of the velocity head at the throat of the meter,i.e.

Substituting on the right hand side area ratios in place of velocity ratios from the equation of
continuity (2), the ideal pressure becomes:

3.0 OBJECTIVES
i) To determine the variation of flow coefficient, Cd with Q throughthe Venturi meter.

ii) To make comparison between the measured and ideal pressure distribution along the

venturi meter.

4.0 APPARATUS
i) Venturi meter apparatus

ii) Flow measurement tank

iii) stop watch

Figure 2 : Arrangement of Venturi meter apparatus.
5.0 PROCEDURES