Abstract
The standard orifice plate is used extensively by the natural gas industry for the metering of fuel. Because of the costs associated with errors in flow measurement inherent with the use of a standard orifice plate, any improvements upon the existing standard orifice plate design would be desirable. Consequently, a new type of orifice plate has been designed. It is termed the "slotted orifice plate". In the slotted orifice plate, the familiar round hole found in the center of standard orifice plates is replaced with a circular array of radially aligned slots. The objective of this project was to compare the performance of the slotted orifice plate to that of the standard orifice plate in order to determine the extent, if any, to which the slotted orifice plate is superior to the standard orifice plate in flow measurement. This was done by investigating pipe-wall pressure distributions and velocity profiles associated with flow through both the standard plate and the slotted plate for a variety of test cases. By using the pressure distribution and velocity profile data, coefficients of discharge were plotted against the second order radial moments of axial momentum. It was determined that the slotted orifice plate was a much more consistent flow measurement device compared to the standard orifice plate, showing less sensitivity to upstream velocity profiles and swirl
Macek, Michael Lee (1993). A slotted orifice plate used as a flow measurement device. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1993 -THESIS -M141.