Vortex Flowmeter Research Articles

Formation mechanism and improved remedy of thermal property of cold shut surface defects in Vortex Flow Meters: Numerical simulation and experimental verification in investment casting of 316 L stainless steel

The purpose of this study aims to investigate the leading causes of CS (Cold Shut) defects in VFM (Vortex Flow Meters) of intricate geometric configuration and propose improvement strategies to leverage the thermal property in the vicinity of thin-walled regions, such as insulation-enhanced uniformly distributed temperature via ceramic core embedment. First, penetrant testing reveals whether the defect is a penetrating-type defect. Second, several extensive material characterization techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis, and charge-coupled device (CCD) were employed to provide deeper insights into the formation and morphology of defects. Third, numerical simulations and experimental verifications were utilized to further analyze the causes of CS defects in vortex flowmeters. Fourth, effective preventive measures were designed after identifying the causes of defects, which involved using ceramic cores to replace the shell at deep and thin-walled locations. A virtual thermo-dynamic sensor (VTDS) was used to analyze the temperature distribution in the area before and after the installation of ceramic cores. The results indicate that the temperature in the defect area increased by >40 degrees during the filling period from 2.5 s to 5 s. Additionally, adequate thermal uniformity was achieved through the high thermal conductivity of the ceramic material, thereby reducing the cooling rate and the coefficient of kinematic viscosity in that area, leading to improved fluidity of the molten iron. Ultimately, the occurrence rate of CS defects decreased from 42.6 % to 0 %.

Improved empirical mode decomposition method based on amplitude-frequency characteristic of vortex signals.

The vortex flowmeter occupies a vital position in flow measurement with its unique advantages. It is essentially a fluid vibration instrument, and its measurement process is susceptible to interference, which seriously affects measurement accuracy. In particular, at low flow rates, it is an urgent problem to extract vortex signals from the complex noise. Among many signal processing methods, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) is a time-frequency analysis method suitable for nonlinear, non-stationary signals. EMD can adaptively decompose noisy signals into noise and useful signal components arranged from high frequency to low frequency. For the above problems, an innovative, improved EMD method is proposed in this paper. The digital filter is designed according to the amplitude-frequency characteristic of vortex signals. After filtering, the vortex signal is adjusted to a fixed value, and high-frequency noise is filtered. According to the consistency of the filtered signal's amplitude, we design a decomposition stop criterion for EMD to process the output signal of the vortex sensor. This method not only maintains the characteristic of adaptive decomposition in EMD but also completes the automatic extraction of the vortex signal under complex noise. It provides a new comprehensive method for realizing high-precision and anti-interference vortex flowmeters.

Modernization of the Vortex Flowmeter with a Trapezoidal Bluff Body and a Feedback Channel

Modernization of the Vortex Flowmeter with a Trapezoidal Bluff Body and a Feedback Channel

Devices and methods for wet gas flow metering: A comprehensive review

Wet gas is commonly encountered in various industries, including energy, chemical, and electric power sectors. For example, natural gas extracted from production often contains small amounts of liquid, such as water and hydrocarbon condensates, which classifies it as wet gas. The presence of liquid within the gas poses challenges for accurate flow measurement. To improve the performances of wet gas flow metering methods, significant research and development efforts have been invested into the wet gas flow metering technologies due to their vital importance in the production, transfer, and trade benefits.This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the recent development of wet gas flow metering. Firstly, a comprehensive discussion of the Lockhart-Martinelli parameter (Xlm) and its relation to the gas void fraction (αg) is presented, which was mostly overlooked in previous wet gas research work. The occurrence of various flow patterns in wet gas conditions at different orientations (horizontal and vertical) was explored. Following an investigation of pressure impact on the wet gas flow patterns and development of the wet gas regions, a different test matrix for further research work was suggested. After a novel classification of wet gas measurement methods, the paper offers a detailed comparison of differential pressure (DP) meters including Venturi, Cone meter, and orifice meters, by considering both liquid and gas flow rate measurements. Secondly, the paper discusses and compares vortex flow meters, Coriolis and ultrasonic meters in comparison to DP meters. Notable phase fraction meters are also examined and compared to one another. Thirdly, the paper reviewed the concept of existing and potential hybrid wet gas meters, conducting a detailed discussion and comparison with commercial solutions by evaluating their ranges and accuracies. This assessment provides valuable insights into the capabilities of these hybrid meters, highlighting their potential to enhance the measurement of wet gas flow rates.

Experimental investigation on droplet evolutions in co-flow around the bluff body

Annular mist flow widely exists in natural gas and other engineering fields. Vortex flowmeter has gradually become an effective means of wet gas measurement. However, the droplets in the flow field will influence the stability of the vortex. In this paper, the interaction between droplets and vortex was studied by experiments. A novel in-focus criterion was proposed to improve the accuracy of droplet measurement. Simultaneous acquisition of droplet size, velocity, and concentration was achieved. The spatial evolution of droplet parameters was obtained to determine the position where the droplets were evenly distributed. The bidirectional coupling mechanism between droplets and vortex was studied. Firstly, the influence of the vortex flow field on droplets was reflected by the characteristics of droplet distribution around the bluff body. Secondly, the effect of droplets on the vortex signal in the flow field was analyzed based on Stokes number Stp and liquid-phase load φl. When φl < 0.03, the probability distribution of droplet velocity downstream of the bluff body presents double peaks. The exchange momentum between the small droplets and the vortex is stronger, and vice versa for the larger droplets. Finally, the quality factor of vortex signals decreases from -2.09 to -2.18 with the increase in the volume concentration of droplets. It is further demonstrated that the increase in volume concentration of droplets will destroy the vortex structure and degrade the quality of the vortex signal.

DIGITAL PROCESSING OF VORTEX FLOWMETER SIGNALS

This article examines the problem of introducing a standard for the quality of measurements of petroleum products coming out of a well in production. The aim of the work is to develop a solution to improve the accuracy of the measurement information obtained from piezoelectric sensors of vortex flowmeters using methods of software processing of the results. In accordance with the aim the following tasks were set: to analyze existing methods for oil and gas flow measuring, to analyze methods for digital processing and filtering signals from the sensor element of the vortex flowmeter, to classify the interference of the output signal from the sensor, to develop models for changing the interference of the signal from the vortex flowmeter, to develop a software solution for an interference filtering algorithm using fast Fourier transform for vortex flowmetersIt has been proven that as a criterion for excluding the self-propelled phenomenon of a vortex flowmeter, a threshold amplitude level can be taken, which does not allow flow measurement to be carried out until a certain signal amplitude level is reached.It has been established that the use of digital signal processing methods using an analog-to-digital converter can significantly reduce the influence of interference and increase the accuracy and reliability of measurements using digital filters and spectral analysis based on the Fourier transform, as well as avoiding the self-propelling phenomenon during operation due to the threshold amplitude level.Criteria have been established for determining interference, according to which the classification of interference has been compiled. It is also determined that the signal with the largest amplitude is the useful signal.

Wet gas flow metering by combining a vortex flowmeter with disturbance wave frequency

Based on a conductance-vortex meter dual-modality system, a novel wet gas flow measurement method is proposed, which combines a vortex meter with disturbance wave frequency. A negative relationship between the vortex signal quality and the disturbance wave frequency is found, on which basis a new segmented fast Fourier transform–continuous wavelet transform vortex frequency extraction method is proposed. Uniform exponential equations are derived for meter over-reading, taking into account the liquid-phase Reynolds and gas-phase Weber numbers, the disturbance wave Strouhal number, density ratio, and the liquid-phase Reynolds number. Finally, a Newton–Armijo-based wet gas metering model is developed by combining these two correlation equations. The percentage errors (PEs) of the gas flow in wet gas are within ±1.0% error bands with uncertainty of 0.56%. The full-scale PEs of liquid flow are within ±10% error bands with uncertainty of 4.71%. The disturbance wave frequency is used to correct the meter over-reading. As no liquid film thickness calibration is needed, the proposed method has low requirements on the conductivity of the medium and hence the application scope of media could be expanded.

Increasing the Operational Stability of Vortex Frequency Transducers in Contact-Conductometric Vortex Flowmeters for Wastewater from Pulp and Paper Production

Increasing the Operational Stability of Vortex Frequency Transducers in Contact-Conductometric Vortex Flowmeters for Wastewater from Pulp and Paper Production

Increasing the stability of the operation of vortex oscillations of contact- conductometric vortex flowmeters for wastewater from pulp and paper production

Increasing the stability of the operation of vortex oscillations of contact- conductometric vortex flowmeters for wastewater from pulp and paper production

Radial distribution characteristics of droplet size and velocity in annular mist flow around the bluff body

Wet gas is a common gas–liquid flow type in chemical processing. When measuring the gas flow rate and liquid load of wet gas with a vortex flowmeter, the small droplets in the flow can significantly affect the measurement accuracy. The optical shadow method was used to measure the parameters and distribution of droplets around the bluff body in annular mist flow. The experimental results show that the velocity distribution of droplets upstream of the bluff body mainly depends on the gas superficial velocity. After passing through the bluff body, when the liquid loading capacity φl is<0.030, the droplet velocity changes from a concentrated single-peak to an uneven double-peak distribution. However, when φl ≥ 0.041, the droplet velocity distribution recovers to a single-peak distribution. The joint distribution of droplet diameter and velocity indicates that the change in velocity distribution is mainly caused by small droplets within the range of 0 to 20 μm, as large droplets are not easily lifted by vortices but can cause rapid dissipation of vortices. The experimental data quantitatively confirm the momentum transfer and transformation between droplets and the vortex flow field, and describe the motion dynamics of droplets in the flow field through the Stokes number (Stp) to analyze the interaction between droplets and vortices.

Effect of shell mold thickness and insulating wool pattern on internal porosity in investment casting of vortex flow meter

Effect of shell mold thickness and insulating wool pattern on internal porosity in investment casting of vortex flow meter

Real-Time Behaviour of Dredged Slurry Treated by Air-Booster Vacuum Consolidation

The air-booster vacuum preloading method has been applied to slurry ground improvement. It is based on the conventional vacuum preloading method but with an additional injection of pressurised air into the soil via pre-installed conductors. The drainage effect of air-booster vacuum preloading has been demonstrated by past studies; however, direct observations of the real-time behaviour of slurries subjected to boosted air remain lacking. This study used a combined monitoring technique that included particle image velocimetry, pore water/air pressure gauges, a vortex flowmeter and an electronic balance to conduct a laboratory test of air-booster vacuum consolidation of dredged slurry. The tests allowed analyses of (1) the real-time displacement field of the slurry, (2) the pressure–flux relationship of the pressurised air, and (3) the pore water pressure responses during air boosting. The first aspect allowed direct observation of small-crack initialisation and propagation during pressurisation; while the latter two confirmed the crack initiation based on drops in air and pore water pressures. The measured crack initiation pressure was verified by comparison with theoretical predictions. The results demonstrate that pressurised air induces cracks in soil, which promote the drainage consolidation of dredged slurry.

A Novel Method for Wet Gas Flow Measurements Based on an Over-Reading Principle

A novel method to measure the flow rate in a wet gas is presented. Due to the presence of liquid, there is a deviation in the measurement of the gas volume flow rate obtained with standard vortex flow-meters. The proposed method is based on a correction factor determined through the application of an over-reading approach to a bluff body in mist flow. The correction factor is obtained from the slip velocity ratio, i.e., the ratio of droplet velocity to gas velocity, based on the analysis of the fluid velocity distribution in the pipeline section. It also takes into account relevant theoretical arguments. It is shown that the predicted results fit the experimental results well.

AUTOMATED TECHNOLOGICAL COMPLEX OF HIGH-PRECISION FLOWRATES CONTROL OF CHEMICALLY ACTIVE LIQUIDS

The article is devoted to the actual problem of real-time automated control of the chemically active substances consumption with high accuracy and quickness, which is an important task of modern industries characterized by flexibility and continuity of production, as well as being dangerous to human health and the environment. The importance of this issue is determined by the constantly growing requirements of the global market and international standards regarding product quality, efficiency and safety of production operations. Widely used control and consumption systems are often inefficient or unsuitable for solving a number of the most important tasks of industries that use chemically active liquids. Therefore, the problem of developing our own competitive easily-operated high-precision technological complexes and systems for controlling and determining the flowrate of chemically active liquids with high accuracy, quickness and the possibility of working in automated mode is relevant. &#x0D; In the article, based on a critical analysis of modern research in the chemically active substances flowrates control systems branch, the necessary to develop an automated technological complex for high-precision control of chemically active liquids flowrates, in particular alcohols, is substantiated, and its structural diagram is presented. The proposed technological complex of high-precision control of chemically active liquids flowrates is a multi-level complex system with technical and software automation tools of different composition, working principles and functional capabilities. Its functional set ensures high accuracy and quickness of measurement in automated and real-time mode. In general, the proposed automated technological complex of high-precision control of chemically active liquids flowrates at each level is implemented in the form of four corresponding interconnected subsystems. As a basic element in the lower level of automated technological complex of high-precision control for chemically active liquids flowrates, a developed precision vortex flowmeter is used, which is resistant to the occurrence of parasitic noises when a vortex is formed behind the streamlined body due to the use of a special shaped and designed streamlined body. Furthermore, in accordance with the requirements of the international standard ISO/DIS 3651-2, the protection of the vortex flowmeter contact elements from the aggressive chemical influence of alcohols is ensured. That increases the reliability of the proposed automated technological complex of high-precision flow control of chemically active liquids in general.

Study Investigates Multiphase Flow in Circular and Triangular Pipes

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 208101, “Multiphase Flow in Circular and Triangular Pipes: Examining Flow Characteristics, Sand Erosion, and Heat Transfer Through Computational Fluid Dynamics and Experimental Work,” by Ronald E. Vieira, Thiana A. Sedrez, and Siamack A. Shirazi, SPE, The University of Tulsa, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. _ The authors present a survey of air/water and air/water/sand flow through circular and triangular pipes. The main objective of this investigation is to study the potential effects of triangular pipe geometry on flow patterns, slug frequency, sand erosion in elbows, and heat transfer in multiphase flow. Introduction The complete paper summarizes several important benefits of triangular pipes as compared with circular pipes in multiphase flow. First, a survey of horizontal multiphase air/water flow through circular and triangular pipes is presented. Second, the erosion patterns in triangular elbow geometry are examined experimentally and predicted computationally using existing erosion models. The results are compared with circular elbows for steel materials. Initially, an experimental investigation was performed using flow visualization with a paint-removal study to determine the location where particles impinge and lead to erosion. Erosion-measurement experiments are also conducted in a flow loop containing liquid and 300-µm sand particles. The experimental studies were followed by computational fluid dynamics (CFD) erosion modeling for liquid/sand and liquid/gas/sand flows in circular and triangular elbows. Third, an attempt is made to analyze the effect of circular and triangular pipe configurations on heat transfer at constant wall temperature and under the influence of different Reynolds number values. The analysis was performed numerically using CFD for turbulent and laminar flow with water at two different viscosities. Experimental Setups The main objective of the first set of experiments was to study the potential effects of triangular pipe geometry on flow patterns and slug frequency in gas/liquid flows. The experimental facility and methodology are detailed in the complete paper. The setup consisted mainly of a pump, tank, separator, and test-loop section (pipes). The water flow rate (containing particles) was measured by timing the liquid volume loss from the tank. Measurements were repeated three times, and the averaged measured time was used. The gas-flow rate was measured using a digital vortex flowmeter. Experiments were performed horizontally and near atmospheric pressure conditions. The circular test section consisted of a 2-in.-inner diameter, 28-ft-long clear acrylic pipe. The triangular test section was formed from three 7-ft-long, 2.7-in.-wide sheets of cast acrylic. The effect of corners of the triangular pipe on the liquid distribution compared with round tubes was investigated using two different orientations of triangular pipe, apex upward and downward. Detailed videos and slug-frequency measurements were collected for horizontal air/water flow through the round and the triangular clear pipes to identify flow patterns. The slug frequency was measured by analyzing the videos.

Experimental verification and numerical simulation of a vortex flowmeter at low Reynolds numbers

This study presents experimental verification and numerical simulations of a vortex flow meter in the Reynolds number range between 8300 and 50,000. A custom-designed bluff body with a wedge back shape was used in the flowmeter. A shedding frequency of the flowmeter was measured in an air duct using a hot-film probe. To evaluate the accuracy of the flowmeter, a measurement uncertainty analysis was performed. Numerical simulations of the vortex flowmeter were performed with the open source code OpenFOAM. Transient simulations of periodic vortex shedding behind the bluff body were performed using different simulation methods depending on the pipe Reynolds number, such as Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS), Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) method. The simulated vortex shedding frequencies matched the experimental data very well. Experiments and simulations demonstrated a clear linear dependence of the shedding frequency on the volumetric flow rate over the entire range of Reynolds numbers. In addition, numerical simulations were used to study the main mechanisms of vortex formation and shedding behind the considered bluff body.

Design and Application of Vortex Flowmeter with Low Pressure Loss

Design and Application of Vortex Flowmeter with Low Pressure Loss

Vortex signal model based Kalman filter of vortex signal processing method.

To improve the performance of the vortex flowmeter, a vortex signal model based Kalman filter of the vortex signal processing method is proposed. According to the characteristics of the vortex signal, a linear vortex signal model is designed. Combining the fuzzy search and iterative algorithm, the Kalman filter algorithm is improved by analyzing the principle and key parameters of the Kalman filter algorithm. The proposed method is verified by simulation and real flow experiments and compared with other methods; the experimental results show that the proposed method has the advantages of adaptive filtering, better anti-interference ability, and faster filtering speed.

Online Measurement of Gas and Liquid Flow Rates in Wet Gas Using Vortex Flowmeter Coupled With Conductance Ring Sensor

Wet gas flow commonly exists in several industries. The online measurement of gas and liquid flow rate is beneficial for economic efficiency. A combination of vortex flowmeter and liquid film sensor was proposed for two-phase flow measurement of wet gas. The specific form is as follows: the dual-modality sensing system was designed and calibrated by an annular mist flow loop. The fluid materials are pure air and water liquid. The ranges of operating pressure, the superficial gas velocity, and superficial liquid velocity are 1.5 bar–3.5 bar, 18.86–37.73 m/s, and 0.0028–0.028 m/s. Then the function relations of liquid film thickness and vortex frequency, with gas and liquid Weber numbers were built, respectively. Finally, a novel model for calculating gas and liquid flow rates in wet gas measurement was established, and solved by the Newton iterative algorithm. It showed that the percentage error (PE) of gas flow rate predicted by the model is within ±1.5%, and the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) is 0.55%. The full-scale PE of liquid flow rate is within ±5% and the MAPE is 3.48%. The data show that this solution for gas and liquid flow rates measurement of wet gas by combining a vortex flowmeter with a conductance ring sensor is feasible.

Machine Learning for Vortex Flowmeter Design

Vortex flowmeters are one of the broadly used flow measurement devices in various industrial applications. The shape of the bluff body is the most critical parameter in the design of vortex flowmeter. The conventional approach of bluff body design relies on parametric shape optimization of a bluff body using experimentation and computational fluid dynamics simulations, which are expensive and time-consuming. In this study, we propose a novel machine learning (ML)-based approach to design bluff body shapes. Two ML models are developed using supervised ML using an artificial neural network (ANN). The first model predicts new optimum bluff body shapes for a given input flow characteristic. The second model predicts the deviation in Strouhal number for a given bluff body to determine its optimality. Data from the literature on the geometry of bluff bodies and fluid flow properties such as blockage ratio, Reynolds number, and Strouhal number are used for training ML models. The obtained ML results are in close agreement (&#x00B1;3.0&#x0025;) compared with the computational fluid dynamics simulation results. This approach may find broad applicability for designing other fluid flowmeters.