Flow Through an Orifice

Objectives:-
1- To determine the contraction, velocity and discharge coefficients for a sharp edged orifice.

2- To determine the relationship between flow rate and head drop across the orifice and to demonstrate
that the discharge coefficient is constant over a range of flow conditions.

Description of Apparatus:-
The main component of this experimental apparatus is a
cylindrical Plexiglas tank. Water enters the top of the tank
and is distributed to the bottom of the tank through a
diffuser. At the bottom of the cylinder, there is an orifice that
allows water to flow down into the hydraulic bench below.
There is also a tube connected at the base of the cylinder; the
water level within this tube will be equal to that in the
cylinder, hence the phrase, “water always finds its own
level”. A Pitot tube and sharp knife edge are located below
the cylindrical tank. The Pitot tube can be placed directly
inside the jet of water coming from the bottom of the tank,
allowing the user to compare the level of water in this tube
to the level of water in the tank and the other small tube. The
knife edge can be placed at one side of the water jet and
moved through the water jet in a direction normal to the
blade. This is accomplished by turning a metered nut for
which every revolution moves the blade exactly 1 mm in the
transverse direction. This allows the user to determine the
exact diameter of the water jet.

Fig. -1: Experimental Apparatus

Theory:-
The tank is assumed to be sufficiently large for the velocity of flow in it to be negligib]y small except
close to the orifice. In the vicinity of the orifice, the fluid accelerates towards the centre of the hole, so
that as the jet emerges it suffers a reduction of area due to the curvature of the streamlines, as typified by
the streamline MN indicated on the fig.-2. The reduction of area due to this local curvature may be taken
to be complete at about half the orifice diameter downstream of the plane of the orifice; the reduced
section is usually referred to as the vena contracta.

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The pressure everywhere on the surface of the jet is atmospheric; but within the jet the pressure does not
fall to atmospheric until the acceleration is complete, 1e., until the vena contracta is reached.

Fig.- 2 show the essential features of flow through the orifice. now the total head of the water at points
M and N of a typical streamline, M being in the surface and N being in the plane of the vena contracta.

Fig. -2 Diagrammtic Sketch of Flow Through Orifice

The required assumptions to utilize Bernoulli’s Equation is: Steady flow , Incompressible flow,
Frictionless flow , Flow along a streamline; if there is no energy loss in a system, then the values at any
two points in the system equal:

P m V 2m Pn V 2n
+ +z = + +z
γ 2 g m γ 2g n …1
In this equation, pressure Pm and Pn are equal (both being atmospheric), and the velocity V m at level M is
negligibly small according to our assumption. Moreover, Equ.1 reduced to:

V 2n
=z −z
2g m n …2

This can be further simplified since (zm – zn ) = Ho

2
V 2n
=H o
2g …3

This result applies to all points in the plane of the vena contracta, so changing the notation to let V o be
the ideal velocity in the plane of the vena contracta, which would occur if there was no energy loss.

V 2o
=H o
2g …4

Because of the energy loss, which in fact takes place as the water passes down the tank and through the
orifice, the actual velocity Vc in the plane of the vena conracta will be less than Vo and may be calculated
from the Pitot tube reading by the equation:

V 2c
=H c
2g …5

It is clear that (Ho – Hc) represents the energy loss. The ratio of actual velocity V c and ideal velocity Vo is
often referred to as the coefficient of velocity Cv of the orifice. From equations 4 and 5 we obtains:

Cv=
Vc
Vo
=
√ Hc
Ho …6

In a similar sense, the coefficient of contraction Cc is defined as the ratio of cross-section of the vena
contracta Ac , to the cross-section of the orifice Ao ,

Ac ( π 4 ) d 2c d 2c
C c= = π
= 2
Ao ( 2
) do do
4 …7

Finally, the coefficient of discharge C d is defined as the ratio of the actual discharge to that which would
take place if the jet discharged at the ideal velocity without reduction of area:

Qc V c Ac
C d= = =C v C c
Qo V o Ao …8

In terms of quantities measured experimentally,

Qc Qc Q 1
C d= = = c ×
Q o V o Ao √ H o A o √ 2 g
…9

Procedure:
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1-Turn the pump on and adjust the flow rate so that the tank is filled to the height of the overflow pipe
and a small, steady discharge is obtained.
2-Record the value of head on the orifice from reading the value of the left manometer tube (H o ).
3-Insert the pitot tube vertically into the middle of the emerging jet. Record the value of the pitot head
after taking a reading from the right manometer tube (Hc ). (now you can calculate the Cv values).
4- Using the caliper, measure the diameter of the jet at the vena contracta (d c). Each notch on the caliper
is 0.1 mm, so each full revolution is 1 mm. The blade attached to the caliper should just be touching
the water on each side of the jet. (You can now calculate the Cc value.)
5- Measure the flow using the weight/time method to calculate flow (Qc). (You can now calculate the Cd
values.)
3×m
Qc =
t×ρ
m: mass (kg) t: time (s) ρ: density of water (kg/m3)
6- Decrease the discharge and repeat steps 2 through 5 ; tabulated the reading and calculations in table 1.

do = 13 mm dc = mm Hc = mm

Ao = mm2 Ac = mm2 ( Cd )av =

Table-1

m t Qc Ho √ Ho √ Hc Cv Cc Cd
(kg) (s) (m3 /s) (mm) (m)1/2 (m)1/2 [Cv * Cc ]

Discussion:
1- Plot the graph of [Ho1/2] against Qc ;find the slope of graph and calculate Cd from the graph and

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 compare with ( Cd )av calculated in table -1.

2- Is Cd constant over awide range of the flow rates?

3- Discuss the resultes and source of error?