BACHELOR OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING (HONS)

LAB REPORT

EKB 2081 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING LAB I

NAME GERSHA MUKUNDAN ID 1103173012

EXPERIMENT TITLE ORIFICE METER

DATE OF EXPERIMENT 20 DEC 2018

DATE OF SUBMISSION 27 DEC 2018

NAME OF GROUP MEMBERS ID

GERSHA MUKUNDAN 1103173012

BAHASHINI VENGADASALAM
AM 1103173013
VIMAL HASSAN 1103173004

MARKING SIGNATURES
DETAILS TOTAL MARKS
AWARDED
Attitude 5
Participation 5
Lab Report 40 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING LAB I
Total 50 INCHARGE
(MS. NURUL SAKINAH/MS. MADIHAH)
Guideline for report writing

CRITERIA Very poor Poor Average Good Very good

1-5 6-10 11-15

Students write the Students write all the Compact with the main
summary of the experiment criteria needed in the objective, summary of the
but it is lack of important abstract such as the procedure and the main
content such as cannot objectives, the summary result withthe value.
differentiate which one is of the procedure and the Students write the correct
the main objective of the main result with the structure of the abstract
Abstract
experiment and do not state value. However, the which is it is straight
the value of the main result. sentences are dramatic forward and consist of all
However students can write and not straight forward. the important keywords.
a good summary of the The overview and the
procedure. understanding of the whole
experiment can be reaching
by the reader.

1 2 3 4 5
Copy theory from manual Copy theory from manual Missing one of the content Explain the principle of Explain the principle of the
without any additional with slightly changes and in the introduction which the equipment, equipment, application (at
information. No citation at additional information are principle of the application, advantages least 3), advantages and
Introduction all. from internet. No citation at equipment, application, and disadvantages. disadvantages (at least 3).
all advantage and Include three citation Present the content in a sub
disadvantages. Include less with correct format of point. Include more than
than three citation with writing three citation with correct
wrong format of writing format of writing

1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25

Do not provide all the Provide all the important Provide all the important Provide all the important
Do not provide complete
important data and write data and write the data and write the data and write the
important data. No
the discussion/explanation discussion/explanation discussion/explanation in discussion/explanation in
Result and Discussion discussion/explanation at
without relates with the without relates with the details, relates discussion details, relates discussion
all. No results and
theory and fundamental. theory and fundamental. with the theory and with the theory and
explanation to the
No results and explanation Objectives fulfilled fundamental. Objectives fundamental. Objectives
objectives at all.
to the objectives. partially fulfilled partially. fulfilled completely.
Conclusion and 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10
Recommendation Wrong summary of the Incomplete summary of the Partially incomplete Summary of the results to Summary of the results to
results to relate the findings results to relate the findings summary of the results to relate the findings or
relate the findings or results
or results with the theory or results with the theory relate the findings or results results with the theory
with the theory applicable
applicable to the applicable to the with the theory applicable applicable to the
to the experimental.
experimental. Do not experimental. Do not to the experimental. Do not experimental. Do not
Suggest improvements in
suggest improvements in suggest improvements in suggest improvements in suggest improvements in
apparatus or measurement
apparatus or measurement apparatus or measurement apparatus or measurement apparatus or
procedure, or experimental
procedure, or experimental procedure, or experimental procedure, or experimental measurement procedure,
procedures for future.
procedures for future. procedures for future. procedures for future. or experimental
procedures for future.
1-2 3-4 5
Write the references Write the references but Write the reference with
References without citation in the most of them are missing
the correct citation in the
content of the report. Have
content of the report. in the citation
at least five references.
1 2 3 4 5
The sample calculation is Show complete sample Show complete sample Attached the raw data Attached the raw data
not complete calculation. Major mistake calculation. Minor mistake collection. Show collection. Show complete
Appendices in calculation in calculation complete sample sample calculation with no
calculation with no mistake. Include the final
mistake. calculations value in the
table
1 3 5
Wrong format especially - The table and figure is Follow all the format
in: not well arrange
Formats - references according to the
- table and figure discussion.
arrangement and - So much gap/spacing in
caption, the report content
CRITERIA Very poor Poor Average Good Very Good

1-3 4-6 7-10

-Partially follow the rules - Follow the rules and
and regulations of regulations of laboratory - Follow the rules and
laboratory and the and the instructions regulations of laboratory
instructions given by given by lecturer in- and the instructions
lecturer in-charge. charge. given by lecturer in-
-Do not wear proper - Wear proper personal charge.
personal protective protective equipment - Wear proper personal
equipment (PPE) in the (PPE) in the laboratory. protective equipment
laboratory. - Poor in time (PPE) in the laboratory.
-Poor in time management and - Good in time
management and punctuality management and
Attitude & punctuality - Involve in the
punctuality
Participation -Being in the lab just for experiment planning, - Involve in the
taking the result without running the experiment, experiment planning,
involve in the and discussion with team running the experiment,
experiment planning, member and discussion with team
running the experiment, - Leave the lab without member
and no discussion with taking part in shutdown - Ensure the equipment is
team member procedure and cleaning fully shut down and do
-Leave the lab without of glassware the cleaning of glassware
taking part in shutdown - Do the submission of before leave the lab
procedure and cleaning the lab report after the
- Submission of the lab
of glassware lab session timing.
report on time
-Postpone the submission
of the lab report until the
next day.
Table of Content:

1. Abstract… ........................................................................................... 2
2. Introduction ......................................................................................... 3
2.1 Principles of Orifice Meter
2.2 Experimental Theory
2.3 Applications
2.4 Advantages/Disadvantages
3. Results and Discussion .................................................................... 10
3.1 Discussion
4. Conclusion ........................................................................................ 13
5. Reference .......................................................................................... 14
6. Appendix............................................................................................ 15

Page 1
 1. Abstract

This report is all about measuring and calculating the discharge coefficient of the
orifice meter. It basically apply the same steps and methods of a venturi meter and also
covers the main concept of the lab session. By applying the Bernoulli theorem and
principle, I was able to practically prove and visualize its concept. Thus showing how the
velocity of a flow rate affects its pressure and the discharge of the fluid. The main concept
is the pressure differential measurement where it is used to identify the actual discharge
(Qa) and theoretical discharge (Qt) leading to obtaining the discharge coefficient (Cd).
The experiment involves adjusting the flow rate rotameter and taking the differential
pressure readings from the left and right manometer. Volumetric flow rate was also
measured up to 6L of water with time taken to calculate for the actual discharge. The
process was repeated 6 times as the rotameter was adjusted.

Page 2
 2. Introduction

An Orifice meter is a device used to measure flow rate of fluids by using the differential
pressure measurement principle. The flow area is reduced when an orifice plate is
inserted. The insertion of the plate causes pressure difference across the orifice plate. It
involves calculating the pressure difference at the pressure drop point and the lowest
pressure point of the tube. It uses the same principle as a venturi meter where the
Bernoulli principle is applied relating to the relationship between the pressure and velocity
of the fluid.

Page 3
 2.1 Principles of Orifice Meter

The principle of the orifice meter is the same or similar to the first experiment the
venturi meter. It basically involves measuring the flow rate of fluids through a pipe. It
applies the Bernoulli principle where there is a relationship between the pressure and the
velocity of the fluids in the pipe. Showing that as the velocity increases, the pressure
decreases and vice versa. The pressure difference is measured and according to the flow
in and out at the vena contracta, that this is the point where the velocity of the fluid
changes thus affecting the pressure.

Fig 1: The general principle of Centrifugal Pump diagram

Page 4
 2.2 Experimental Theory

Orifice meter applies the Bernoulli’s principle involving the dynamic changes in fluids
flows through a pipe. As the fluid flows through the orifice plate the velocity increases, at
the expense of pressure head. The pressure drops suddenly as the orifice is passed. It
continues to drop and then gradually increases downstream till a maximum pressure point
is reached that will be lower than the pressure upstream of the orifice. The decrease in
pressure as the fluid passes through the orifice is a result of the increased velocity of the
fluid passing through the reduced area of the orifice. When the velocity decreases as the
fluid leaves the orifice the pressure increases and tends to return to its original level. All
of the pressure loss is not recovered because of friction and turbulence losses in the
stream. The pressure drop across the orifice increases when the rate of flow increases.
When there is no flow there is no differential. The differential pressure is proportional to
the square of the velocity, it therefore follows that if all other factors remain constant, then
the differential pressure is proportional to the square of the rate of flow. The relationship
between flow rate and pressure drop can be determined using Bernoulli’s equation and
continuity equation as:

Use of bernoulli’s equation:

Use of continuity equation Q = A1V1 = A2V2, then equation 1 becomes

Page 5
Theoretical discharge

P1-P2/γ + (Z1-Z2) represents the piezometric head ( ∆h ) between the two sections 1
and 2. The above expression for V2 is obtained based on the assumption of one-
dimensional friction-less flow. Hence giving theoretical flow as:

The actual flow rate, Qa differs from Qt and the ratio between them is the discharge
coefficient Cd, which is expressed as

Where:

Page 6
Ao = area of the orifice in ‘m2 ‘
g= gravitational pull
H= Height difference in m
Do= Diameter of the pipe in m
D1= Diameter of the orifice in m

V= Velocity
T= time in seconds
Qa = Actual Discharge
Qt = Theoretical discharge
Cd= Coefficient of discharge

7
 2.3 Applications

Application of an orifice meter involves wide range of industrial uses. Industries uses
orifice meter to monitor the flow of fluids through the pipes in their respective systems.
This is important because it may prevent incidents in the work place as sometimes
pressure build up and high flow fluids my cause explosion or other form of harm and
danger on the work force. It also used to maintain certain systems that mainly depend
on fluids flow from one place to another. The application of orifice meter ranges from
chemical plants to regulate chemical flows, water treatment plants to monitor the fluids
flow through the pipes, gas generation to measure the flow and power generation to
control the fluid flow through those different systems. Orifice meter is small in size but
plays an important role in measuring and monitoring the fluid flow major industrial
systems.

8
 2.4 Advantages/Disadvantages

Here are some of the common advantages and disadvantages of a venturi meter.

Advantages

 The Orifice meter is very cheap as compared to other types of flow meters.

 Less space is required to install and hence ideal for space constrained applications.

 Operational response can be designed with perfection.

 Installation direction possibilities: Vertical / Horizontal / Inclined.

Disadvantages

 They have low range-ability.

 Requires straight pipe runs to ensure accuracy is maintained.

 Requires the same kind of fluid.

 Causes a pressure drop in fluid.

 Their accuracy is affected by density, pressure and viscosity fluid.

 Requires single phase liquid.

9
 3. Results and Discussion

Actual Discharge vs Theoretical Discharge

0.0009

0.0008

0.0007

0.0006
Qa (m3/s)

0.0005
y = 1.4161x + 1E-06
0.0004
Qa vs Qt
0.0003

0.0002

0.0001

0
0 0.0001 0.0002 0.0003 0.0004 0.0005 0.0006
Qt (m3/s)

Graph1: Showing actual discharge (Qa) vs the theoretical discharge (Qt)

10
 3.1 Discussion

Through carrying out the experiment, calculation of the data collected and by plotting
the graphs and tables, I was able to clearly visualize the results and able to analyze
about it. Which includes the highlight of our main objective and also the relationship
between some important variables that were measured and calculated.

Starting off with the flow pattern, it shows an effective decrease in the cross-section
of flow beyond the orifice plate with the maximum velocity and minimum pressure. The
particular position where the velocity is maximum and static pressure is minimum is
known as vena contracta. It works on Bernoulli’s principle and used for measuring the
rate of fluid flowing through a pipe. There are two gauge points in this orifice meter, one
gauge point on the upstream side of the orifice-meter and the other gauge point is just
near the orifice-meter on the downstream side. The difference in pressure head between
the two tapping is measured by means of a manometer.

The increase in water flow rate controlled by increase in rotameter reading (L/min)
leads to the increase in pressure of water flowing through the orifice meter. The increase
in pressure can be measured with the help of manometric readings h 1 and h2 where the
difference in between both h(height of manometric fluid) is taken as head over the orifice,
H. Rotameter reading (L/min) acts as the manipulative variable as it manipulates water
pressure which in turn influences the velocity of the water flow in the venture meter.

During the experiment the actual discharge, Q a was calculated based on the
collected volume of water in the water tank, v(m3) and time taken , t (sec). The actual
discharge value, Qa increases as the time to collect water inside the tank decreases.
Theoretical discharge, Qt in this experiment depends on the difference in manometric
fluid readings as it considered as head over the orifice, H and the Q t readings increases
as the time to collect water inside the tank decreases. The steady increase in actual
discharge, Qa and theoretical discharge, Qt values influences the coefficient discharge,
Cd which not only shows steady decremented but is more than 1.0 which is 1.41, giving
the average Cd value should be 0.77 or below 1.0.

11
 Referring to the first graph of actual discharge Qa, versus theoretical discharge Qt, it
was drawn to find the relationship between both criteria. According to observation table,
is seen that as Qa increases as well increases steadily till the end. But then the value of
Cd fluctuates even though both discharge rises randomly but steadily up throughout the
experiment. The graph plotted also shows the same pattern of increase. Therefore I can
conclude that the Coefficient discharge, cd is directly proportional to actual discharge,
Qa but inversely proportional to theoretical discharge, Qt. This was when comparing both
discharge Qa and Qt with the discharge coefficient.

The reason for not getting accurate Cd value:

Some of the readings where not accurate due to errors that happened during the
conduction of the experiment due to human and servicing factors such as ‘parallax
errors’ or like optical phenomenon errors, and this led to the difference between the
theoretical value and the actual value and as well some misconduct of the equipment
by accident during the experiment.

12
 4. Conclusion

All in all, I have noticed that an orifice meter has the similar function or principle to
a venturi meter. They both measure the flow rates of fluids passing through pipes and
thus affecting similar variables including velocity and pressure. Even the results
obtained where somewhat similar as it can be seen based on the graphs and the tables
provided. It can be seen that the actual discharge and theoretical discharge are
proportional to each other as they increase steadily with respect to each other and
importantly the flow rate. The main objective of this experiment was successful as I was
able to measure the discharge coefficient (Cd) of the orifice meter through calculation
of all the data collected from the experiment.

As the results (Cd) turns out to be more than 1.0 gives a negative feedback. Even
though there were no major errors encountered during the experiment, I presume that
minor errors like inaccurate reading of the measurement, stop watch timing and flow
rate adjustment may cause unseen flaws. This may slightly disturb my calculations.
However, I have learnt that the orifice meter apply’s the Bernoulli’s principle whereas
the velocity increases the pressure decreases and vice verse. This theory was proven
when the experiment was carried out and the data’s calculated as shown in the result
section. Thus showing that velocity is indirectly proportional to pressure in pipe with
flowing fluids. Furthermore, with the use of Bernoulli’s equation theoretical discharge Qt
and the discharge coefficient discharge were calculated. Errors encountered, I still
recommend that scales and measurement reading skills needed to be taken seriously.
Every adjustment must be accurate and also the timing of any devices, for this case the
stop watch.

13
 5. Reference

1. Foust, A.S., Wenzel, L.A., Clump, C.W., Maus, L. and Anderson, L.B., “Principles
of Unit Operations”, 2nd ed., John Wiley, New York, 1980

2. Warren L. McCabe, Julian C. Smith and Peter Harriott, “Unit Operations of Chemical
Engineering”, McGraw-Hill, 2005.

3. Scarf, 2015, (Orifice Meter) [Online].[Accessed 8 th February, 2017]. Available from

world wide web: http://scharfautomation.com/orifice-meter/

4. Michigan Tech, 2013, (Transport Process 1). [Online]. [Accessed 6 th March, 2017].
Available from world wide web:
http://www.chem.mtu.edu/~fmorriso/cm310/flow_meters/orifice_meter.html

14
 Appendix

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS:

1. Area of the Orifice:

2. Actual Discharge:

Rota meter Reading = L/min

Actual Discharge = m3/s

3. Theoretical discharge:

Difference in height of manometric fluid

H= mm = m

Theoretical discharge:
Qt = m3/s

Theoretical
Discharge

Where g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/s2

H = Head over the orifice in ‘m’

AO = area of the orifice in ‘m2 ‘

15