Study on the metrological performance of a swirlmeter affected by flow regulation with a sleeve valve

Abstract

The metrological performance of flowmeters dominated by internal flow characteristics is often affected by flow regulation with valves in fluid transportation industries. This paper aims to study the metrological performance of a swirlmeter from the analysis of flow characteristics affected by flow regulation with a sleeve valve, and to have a comprehensive understanding from disturbed internal flow field in swirlmeter to fluctuation of flow signal, then to influence in metrological characteristic. With experimental setup developed and numerical simulation employed, throttling effect caused by flow regulation with the sleeve valve was considered in the context of positional relation between the swirlmeter and the sleeve valve (case I, sleeve valve at upstream and swirlmeter at downstream; case II, swirlmeter at upstream and sleeve valve at downstream) to compare the metrological performance under various operating conditions (including flow velocities and valve openings). Flow coefficients in two cases were comparatively examined to assess the throttling effect. Periodic pressure variation of the internal flow was monitored and its corresponding characteristic frequency (vortex precession frequency) in both cases was analyzed under different valve openings. It was found that the metrological characteristic of the swirlmeter in case II was extremely affected by the throttling effect spread upstream from the sleeve valve. In both cases, small valve openings were dominantly responsible for great relative errors in flow measurement. The flow mechanism of air compressed by throttling effect for depressing the vortex precession frequency in metrological characteristic was revealed through analyzing distributions of pressure and entropy production rate (EPR) of internal flow field. The average density of compressed air in the swirlmeter was adopted to evaluate the throttling effect, which was shown a greater dependence on operating conditions in case II. Furthermore, good correlation of average air density with operating conditions in sensitive case II was explored. Finally, this work can provide helpful insight for the metrological performance in fluid engineering.