Fluids Laboratory Report

Flow through an Orifice

Course/Class: EG314101/2PD01
Test Date: 30 March, 2016
Group: B

ABE Shotaro 140695511 LO Hiu Tung 140695271

WONG Tsz Him 140695283 YIU Hi Leong 140082491
CHU Ka Long 140695295 CHAN Chun Wai 140695302
CHAU Wing Kit 140695326 LI Cheuk On 140695363
YEUNG Ka Fai 140695443 KONG Chi On 140695479
WOO Hin Hung 140695480 KING Yuk Wai 140695523
LO Hung Fei 140695535 CHAN Wai 140695547
CHEUNG Wing Tat 140695885 CHOW Kai Shing 140698549
CHAN Sik Yu 140670092
EG314101-2PD01 CON4361 Fluid Mechanics Year 15/16

1. RAW DATA
Diameter of the orifice = do = 13 mm
Cross-sectional area of orifice = ao = 1.327*10-4 m2
Head on orifice = Ho = 0.369 m
Discharge = Q = 3.134*10-4 m3/s
Tim required = t = 31.91 s
Pilot tube reading = Hc = 0.368 m
Diameter of jet = jc = 12.6 mm
Cross-sectional area of jet = ac = 1.25*10-4 m2
Q
Coefficient of discharge = Cd = = 0.8775
ao √2gHo

Hc
Coefficient of velocity = Cv = √ = 0.9986
Ho

ac
Coefficient of Contraction = Cc = = 0.9394
ao

Set No. Volume(L) Time(s) Ho(mm) 104*Q(m3/s) Ho1/2(m1/2)

1 10 33.63 340 2.974 0.583
2 15 52.09 315 2.880 0.561
3 11 39.37 281 2.794 0.530
4 10 37.78 266 2.647 0.516
5 15 61.13 211 2.454 0.459
6 10 47.97 164 2.085 0.405

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EG314101-2PD01 CON4361 Fluid Mechanics Year 15/16

Q vs Ho1/2
3.2E-04

1
3.0E-04
2
3
2.8E-04
4
Q(m3/s)

2.6E-04
5

2.4E-04

2.2E-04
6

2.0E-04
4.0E-01 4.5E-01 5.0E-01 5.5E-01 6.0E-01
Ho1/2(m1/2)

Point Best Straight Line

2. DISCUSSION
1.1Comment on the values of Cv, Cc & Cd.
Typical values of coefficient of velocity, coefficient of contraction and
coefficient of discharge include 0.9986, 0.9394 and 0.8875 respectively.
Coefficient of The ratio of actual velocity of the jet, at vena-contracta, to
Velocity (Cv) the theoretical velocity is known as coefficient of velocity.
The difference between the velocities is due to friction of
the orifice. The value of Coefficient of velocity varies
slightly with the different shapes of the edges of the orifice.
Coefficient of The ratio of the area of the jet, at vena-contracta, to the area
Contraction (Cc) of the orifice is known as coefficient of contraction. The
value of Coefficient of contraction varies slightly with the
available head of the liquid, size and shape of the orifice. In
practice, the actual head different is very small as 1mm so
that the Cc is relatively large as 0.94. The possible reason of
it is the microscale of experiment. The head different is
limited to the small size of orifice apparatus.
Coefficient of In practice, the actual discharge is considerably less than
Discharge (Cd) theoretical discharge and is modified by the factor of Cd.
There are two reasons for this phenomenon.

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EG314101-2PD01 CON4361 Fluid Mechanics Year 15/16
First, the velocity of the jet is less than the theoretical
velocity because there is a loss of energy.
Second, the paths of the particles of the fluid converge on
the orifice and the area of the issuing jet at outside is less
than the area of the orifice at inside. In the plane of the
orifice, the particles have a component of velocity towards
the center and the pressure at C is greater than atmospheric
pressure. The streamlines will converge at a short distance
downstream of the orifice and the minimum flow area is
called the vena contracta. This is smaller than the
cross-sectional area of the orifice.

1.2 Noted the slope of the line on the graph plotted. The theoretical slope of the
line should be Cd*ao√2g. Compare the theoretical and experimental values.
Comment and discuss the results.
Theoretical slope = Cd*ao√2g = 5.16*10-4
Experimental slope = 4.89*10-4
Discrepancy = -5%
According to the findings obtained above, the experimental results are very
close to the theoretical results, which have only 5% deviation. Therefore, the
results are satisfactory to the theory. Perhaps there were some human error or
mechanical tolerances included. The result is relatively precise as the best
straight line is the mean of overall data.

3. CONCLUSION
Experimental errors have significantly affected the values of the coefficients. The
followings are the errors involved in this experiment and some suggestions for
improvement:
1. It was difficult to adjust the flow in a constant head which resulted in the
head dropped down when taking the drain stopper off. We suggest the
adjustment should be carry out after taking off the stopper and a relatively
constant situation of flow head can be reached.,
2. Due to the difference of the experiment skills, data may be subject to certain
random human error. For example, as we always use a digital timer to
measure the flow time, the reading may subject to an uncertainty factor of
human reaction speed. It is recommended to use at least two timers for
recoding at the same time by different experimenter and take the mean.

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