ERRORSI

NFLOW MEASUREMENT
I
ni ndust
ry,whetheritist he chemi cal
,power ,oroi land gas i ndustry,accuratef low
measur ementisofver
yhighimpor t
ance.Inaccur atefl
owmeasur ement sleadtopoorf l
owand
relat
edcontrol
s,badquali
typroducts,andincor r
ectf i
scalandal locat
ionmeasur ement ,which
l
eadt opoorall
ocati
onofrevenuesamongpar tners.Inaddi
ti
on, anunsaf eprocessduet owr ong
quantit
iescoul
dleadtofacil
it
ydamageandcr eat eanunsafeenv i
ronmentf orfaci
l
itywor kers.
I
naccur at
eflowreadi
ngscanpot enti
all
ycauseser iousordisastrousresults.Thepointsbel ow
discusssomecommonf l
owmeasur ementmi stakesandcor recti
veactions.

1.Fl
owmet
ersel
ect
ion

Achall
engeinindustr
yishowt osel
ecttheri
ghtfl
owmet erforthespeci
fi
cappli
cati
on.Wrong
f
lowmetersel
ectionisoneofthemajorcausesofinaccur
ateflowmeasurement.Tangi
bleand
i
ntangi
blef
actorsshouldbeev
aluat
edstepbystepbeforegoi
ngt ocostcompar
ison.

Fir
st,fl
owmet ersui tabil
it
yshoul dbedef i
nedbasedonf lowr ange,processpar ameters,desired
accuracyandr epeat abil
i
ty,uni dir
ecti
onalormul tidir
ecti
onalf l
ow,upst ream anddownst ream
str
aightrun r equirement s,pi ping geometryupst r
eam ofa f lowmet er,f i
l
t errequir
ement s,
conti
nuousort ot
alizedr eadings,anal ogordi gi
talsignals,possibleimpactofv i
brat
ionson
fl
owmet ersaccur acy ,dataupdat ef r
equency,meteraccessf orpossi bl
emai ntenance,etc.Next ,
fl
owmet ersui tabil
ity shoul d be def i
ned based on hi st
oricfailurer ates,pl antper sonnel
famili
ari
ty,andconf idencel evelwi thfl
owmet ertype,cali
brationandmai ntenanceease,spar es
avail
abil
it
y,etc.Fi nally,tangibleandi ntangi
blefact orsshoul dbeev aluat edal ongwi tht otal
i
nstall
edcostf orfairandbi gpicturecompar i
son.

Thor
oughev aluati
onshouldbedoneinalogicalstep-
by-st
epapproachconsider
ingalltangibl
e
andi
ntangi
blef actor
sbeforedeci
dingonthetypeoff l
owmeter.Becauseoftheimpor tanceof
fl
owmeterselecti
on,suf
fi
cientt
imeandresourcesshouldbeal
locatedfort
hisevaluat
ion.

2.Gascar
ry-
undercondi
ti
ons

Gascarry-
undercondi
ti
onswhi
l
emeasur i
ngliqui
dfl
owssigni
fi
cant
lyimpact
st heaccur
acyof
l
iqui
df l
ow measurement.I
mpropersepar
ati
onofl i
qui
dandgasi nseparati
onvesseland
shri
nkageeff
ecti
soneofthemajorr
easonsforfr
eeandent
rai
nedgascondit
ionsinthel
iqui
d’s
measurement.
Shrinkageisthetendencyt olosel i
ghtercomponentsoft heliquidast hepr essur eisloweredin
the liqui
d processing tr
ain.The per cent
age ofliqui
dl ostt o shrinkage depends on t he
composi ti
on,operatingpressure,andt emperatur
eofthel i
quidwhenmet ered.APIMPMS20. 1
maybef oll
owedf orshri
nkagecor recti
ons.Theprocedureinvolvesobt aini
ngaknownv olumeof
ar epresentat
iveliquidsampl ef r
om t hef l
ow li
neusingapr essur i
zedsampl ecy l
inder.The
sampl eisthenallowedt ostabil
izeatat mospheri
cconditi
ons, andt hev olumeoft her emaini
ng
l
iquidi smeasured.Theshr i
nkagef actoristhencomputedbasedont hei nit
ialandf inall
iqui
d
vol
umes.Locat ionoft hesampl i
ngpoi ntwill
bekeptascloseaspr acti
cal l
ypossi bletot hel
iqui
d
fl
owmet er
.

Toensur
efur
thert
hel
i
qui
disf
reef
rom gas,
thesepar
ati
onv
essel(
gas/
li
qui
d)separ
ator
smust
bedesi
gnedaccur
atel
yandmustbeoper
atedandmai
ntai
nedpr
oper
lyasperdesi
gnl
i
mit
s.

3.St
rai
ghtr
unr
equi
rement
s

Strai
ghtrunrequir
ement sofpr ocesspipeforfl
owmeasur ementdev i
cesar eamongt hel eadi
ng
causesoff lowmet erinaccuratemeasur ements.Mostoff l
owmet ers( part
icul
arl
ydi f
ferent
ial
pressur
e-based)aredesi gnedt ooperat
ecorrectl
yandaccur atel
yinprocesspi peli
newher ethe
processf l
uidexhibit
sahomogeneousandsy mmet ri
calv el
ocit
ypr ofil
ebef oreenteringthe
fl
owmet erdevice.Sot heperf ormanceofmanyf l
owmet erscanbesi gnifi
cantl
yaffectedbya
non-homogeneousv elocit
ypr ofil
e,i.
e.,vel
ocit
ypr of
il
easy mmetryorswi r
lsthatent erthe
fl
owmet er.

Dif
ferentfl
owmeter
shav ediff
erentsensi
tivi
ti
estothedif
ferentki
ndsofflow f
iel
ddistor
ti
ons.
Hence,mostflowmeters(part
icul
arl
ydiff
erenti
alpr
essur
e-based)musthavestrai
ghtpiperuns
upstr
eam anddownstream ofthefl
owmet ertoachi
evedesir
edv el
oci
typr
ofil
eforaccur
ateflow
measur ement
.

Ther ul
eoft humbf ort hesef lowmet ersisast raightpi per unr equirementof10di ameters
upst r
eam and5di amet ersdownst ream.Thi srul
emaynotbev ali
di nallcasesandscenar i
osas
somef lowmet ersmayneedev enmor et han25di amet ersupst ream toensur et heveloci
ty
profil
ei shomogeneousandsy mmet ri
cal.Simil
arly,somef l
owmet ersmayr equirelessthan5
diamet ersofst r
aightpiper un.Fl owcondi t
ionersorst r
aighteningv anescanal sobeusedasper
suitabil
it
yt o eliminateoratl eastmi ni
mi zef l
ow di st
or t
ions( e.g.,swirlorv eloci
typrofi
le
asy mmet ry)andt or educet hest r
aightpiper unr equirement s.Thisi sparticul
arlycri
ti
cali
n
offshoref acili
ti
eswher espacei sl imit
ed.Fur ther ,cont r
olv alvesand ot herinst r
umentor
dev i
ces,whi chcancr eatet urbulenceandcandi st ortthev elocit
ypr ofil
einthepi peshouldbe
l
ocat eddownst r
eam oft hef lowmet er.

4.Li
qui
dcar
ryov
er

Whenmaki nggasf l
ow measur ement s,anypr ocessorsepar ationv essel(i
nhy drocarbonor
otherprocesspr oducti
onst reams)exper i
encingsignif
icantli
quidcar ryover(
i.
e.,l
iquidsint he
gas)wil
ladv er
selyimpactt heaccur acyofgasmeasur ement .Freeflowingandent r
ainedl i
quids
dist
urbanddi storttheflow pr ofi
leinsidethepi peandcanl eadt omeasur ementer ror
s.Fr ee
fl
owingandent rainedli
quidscanal soleadtohi ghorlowmeasur ementr eadi
ngs.Hencet hekey
foraccur at
e gas measur ementi st o make gas f ree from l i
quids ort o do r elevant
compensat i
onsf oraccountingt hefreef l
owingandent r
ainedl i
quidsinthegasmeasur ement ,i
f
possibl
e.

Measur ementofsingl
e-phasef l
uidcanachi evehigherdegreeofpr eci
siont hanwhatispossible
bymeasur i
ngtwo-phaseormul t
iphasef l
uidsusingt hecommer ci
all
yav ail
ablestat
e-of
-t
he-art
two-phaseormul t
iphasemet ers.Whiledoinggasf l
owmeasur ements,attenti
onmustbegi ven
toensur ethegasmeasur ementi sdrygasmeasur ementandnotdual -
phase( gasandl i
quid)
measur ements.Sogasunderconsi derati
onoff l
ow measur ementmustbea“ dr
ygas. ”To
ensuret hegasisadr ygasandf r
eef r
om liquids,t
hesepar at
ionv essel(gas/l
iqui
d)separators
mustbedesi gnedaccuratelyandmustbeoper atedandmai nt
ainedpr operl
y.

Fur
ther
,regul
arcomposi
ti
onalsampl
i
ngoft
hepr
oducedgas,pot
ent
ial
l
yonamont
hlybasi
s,
maybeconduct
edi
nor
dert
ocal
cul
atet
hel
i
qui
dsandcor
rectf
orl
i
qui
dcar
ryov
er.

5.I
mpr
opermet
eri
nst
all
ati
on

Qui
te oft
en,error
s obser
ved i
nf l
owmet erreadi
ngs are because ofimpr
operfl
owmet er
i
nstal
l
ati
on,whichmakesflow measurementi
naccurat
eandunr eli
abl
e.Themostcri
ti
calstep
of
tenignoredatfaci
li
ti
esforachi
evingtheoptimum eff
ici
encyofaf l
owmeteri
sitsproper
i
nstal
l
ati
on.

Careshouldbet akenonmeteralignment,di
rect
ionofflowmeter,upstr
eam anddownst ream
str
aightrunrequi
rement
s,pi
pinggeomet ryupstr
eam ofaf l
owmet er,f
il
terlocati
ons,possible
i
mpactofv ibr
ati
onsonfl
owmet eraccuracy
,meteraccessforpossibl
emai nt
enance,etc.I
tmay
beagoodi deatohaveacheckl
istforspeci
fi
ctypeoffl
owmet erandrevi
ewi tbeforei
nstal
lation
topreventi
mproperfl
owmeterinst
all
ati
on.

Properatt
enti
onshoul
dbepaidonfl
owmeterinstal
l
ationandit
ssurroundi
ngenvir
onmentsi nce
fl
owmeasur ementerr
orsof
tenor
igi
nat
efr
om i ncor
rectorbadinst
all
ati
onorotherenvir
onment
dependentfactor
s.Fl
owmeter
sperfor
m wellandcont ri
butetosmoot hrunni
ngpr ocessesif
appli
edproperl
y

6.Er
osi
onandWear