VENTURITUBE  Flow rate can be given as:

 The venturi tube has an entrance zone, converging conical inlet, a

cylindrical throat, and a diverging recovery cone. The main
sections of venturi meter are indicated in Fig.24.3.
1. Entrance Section
 It is a straight cylinder having length equal to 5 to 8 times
the diameter of the pipe.
2. Convergence Section
Q = flow rate
 Here, the diameter of the tube gradually decreases.
Cd = Coefficient of discharge. It is not constant and
When liquid flows inside the venturi meter, the velocity of
depends on pipe geometry, Reynolds number of
fluid increases and correspondingly the pressure.
the flow etc. a1 = area at the entrance of venturi
3. Throat
a2 = area at the venturi throat
 At this section, the diameter of the venture meter is
p1 = Pressure at entrance of venture
minimum. Velocity is maximum and pressure is minimum.
p2 = Pressure at venture throat
Throat diameter = 1/3 to 1/4inlet diameter.
4. Diverging section
Advantages
 Again the diameter of the tube gradually increases. Here
The venturi tube is suitable for clean, dirty and viscous
due to gradual divergence pressure is build up to the
liquid and some slurry services. Loss of head due to
original inlet pressure. Small size venturi meter are made
installation in the pipeline is small. Original pressure of
of brass or, bronze and large venturi meters are made of
the liquid can be recovered completely. Accuracy is 1% of
cast iron or stainless
full range Not much wear and tear. Characteristics are
Working principle well established, and it is in use since years. Can be used
 In the venturi meter the fluid is accelerated through a for large flow rates and large diameter pipes.
converging cone and the pressure difference between the Disadvantages
upstream side of the cone and the throat is measured and Space requirements are more. Expensive in installation.
provides a signal for the rate of flow. The fluid slows down Has to be designed as per requirement.
in diverging cone with smaller angle where most of the
kinetic energy is converted back to pressure energy. High
pressure and energy recovery makes the venturi meter
suitable where only small pressure heads are available.
Pitot Tube PROBLEMS
 Pitot tube is used to measure flow velocity. The 1. A pitot static tube is used to measure the velocity of air flowing through
construction of Pitot tube is shown in Fig. 24.4. Outer a duct. The manometer shows a difference in head of 5 cm of water. If the
body of pilot tube consist of ports at point A, for sensing density of air and water are 1.13 kg/m3 and 1000 kg/m3 determine the
the static pressure of fluid. At point B fluid vel. become velocity of air. Assume the coefficient of the pitot tube as 0.98.
zero and inner tube is for sensing the stagnation pressure.
The outlet C & D is connected to U-tube manometer for
measuring the pressure difference between the points A
and B.
2. A pitot-static tube placed in the centre of a 300 mm pipe has one orifice
pointing upstream and the other perpendicular to it. The mean velocity in
the pipe is 0.80 of the central velocity. Find the discharge through the
pipe if the pressure difference between two orifice is 60 mm of water.
Take
the coefficient of the pitot tube as Cv=0.98
3. Find the velocity of the flow of an oil through a pipe, when the
difference of mercury level in a differential U-tube manometer connected
to the two tappings of the pitot tube is 100 mm. Take coefficient of the
tube 0.98 and sp. Gr of oil is 0.8.
4. The venturi meter is used to measure the speed of a fluid in a pipe. The
cross-sectional areas of points A and B are 10 cm2 and 5cm2. The height
difference of the water levels in two tubes is 61.2 cm. A) What is the
speed of water at point A? B) Calculate the flow speed at point B. C) What
is the
pressure difference between point A and B? D) If the pressure is 15,000
Pa, what is the pressure at point B?
Net Positive Suction Head (NPSH)
 NPSHr (required) is normally specified by the pump
manufacturer. Hence, NPSH calculation usually refers to
the calculation of available NPSH (NPSHa). Calculation of
available NPSH or NPSHa is important for deciding the
line sizes on suction side of a centrifugal pump. Selecting
a large enough line size is crucial for avoiding cavitation in
the pump.
Problems on Flow Past Immersed Bodies
Flow past immersed bodies Air at 37.8 deg C and 101.3 kPa absolute
pressure flows past a sphere having a diameter of 42 mm and a velocity of
23 m/s. What is the drag coefficient and the force on the sphere?
Flow past a packed bed
Air at 311 K is flowing through a packed bed of spheres having a diameter
of 12.7 mm. The void fraction of the bed is 0.38 and the bed has a
diameter of 0.61 m and a height of 2.44 m. The air enters the bed at 1.10
atm abs at the rate of 0.358 kg/s. Calculate the pressure drop of the air in
the packed bed.
Flow in a fluidized bed
Catalyst pellet 5mm in diameter are to be fluidized with 45,000 kg/hr of
air at 1 atm and 80 deg C in a vertical cylindrical vessel. The density of the
catalyst particles is 960 kg/m3, their sphericity is 0.86. If the given
quantity is just sufficient to fluidize the solids, what is the vessel diameter.