Numerical simulations for multi-hole orifice flow meter

Abstract

The measurement of flow rate is important in many industrial applications including rocket propellant stages. The orifice flow meter has the advantages of compact size and weight. However, the conventional single-hole orifice flow meter suffers from higher pressure drop due to lower discharge coefficient (Cd). This can be overcome by the use of multi-hole orifice flow meter. Flow characteristics of multi-hole orifice flow meters are determined both numerically and experimentally over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate the flow in the single- and multi-hole orifice flow meters. Experiments are carried out to validate the CFD predictions. The discharge coefficients for the different orifice configurations are determined from the CFD simulations. It is observed that the pressure loss in the multi-hole orifice flow meter is significantly lower than that of single-hole orifice flow meter of identical flow area due to the early reattachment of flow in the case of the multi-hole orifice meter. The influence of different geometrical and flow parameters on discharge coefficient is also determined.