Experimental and numerical study on swirlmeter with different helix angles of swirler

Abstract

Swirlmeters are widely used to measure the flowrate in engineering due to its simple structure, stable operation stability, and accurate measuring precision. In this paper, in order to disclose the influence of different helix angles of swirler on the metering characteristics of the swirlmeter, the metrological performance and internal unsteady flow of a swirlmeter assembled with three swirlers with different helix angles were studied through physical experiments and numerical calculations. The results show that with the increasing helix angle of swirler, the pressure loss of swirlmeter and meter factor K decrease almost linearly, the vortex core center at throat of the swirlmeter is gradually off-center. In the direction of central axis of the throat, the amplitude of dominant frequency of pressure pulsation increases with the increasing helix angle of swirler.