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Uncertainty analysis of flow rate measurement for multiphase flow using CFD

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Abstract

The venturi meter has an advantage in its use, because it can measure flow without being much affected by the type of the measured fluid or flow conditions. Hence, it has excellent versatility and is being widely applied in many industries. The flow of a liquid containing air is a representative example of a multiphase flow and exhibits complex flow characteristics. In particular, the greater the gas volume fraction (GVF), the more inhomogeneous the flow becomes. As a result, using a venturi meter to measure the rate of a flow that has a high GVF generates an error. In this study, the cause of the error occurred in measuring the flow rate for the multiphase flow when using the venturi meter for analysis by CFD. To ensure the reliability of this study, the accuracy of the multiphase flow models for numerical analysis was verified through comparison between the calculated results of numerical analysis and the experimental data. As a result, the Grace model, which is a multiphase flow model established by an experiment with water and air, was confirmed to have the highest reliability. Finally, the characteristics of the internal flow field about the multiphase flow analysis result generated by applying the Grace model were analyzed to find the cause of the uncertainty occurring when measuring the flow rate of the multiphase flow using the venturi meter. A phase separation phenomenon occurred due to a density difference of water and air inside the venturi, and flow inhomogeneity happened according to the flow velocity difference of each phase. It was confirmed that this flow inhomogeneity increased as the GVF increased due to the uncertainty of the flow measurement.

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Abbreviations

\(A_{2}\) :

Cross-sectional area of the venturi throat

\(A_{kl}\) :

Interfacial area density

\(C_\mathrm{D}\) :

Drag coefficient

\(C_\mathrm{R}\) :

Discharge coefficient of venturi meter

D :

Pipe diameter of venturi meter

\(d_\mathrm{p}\) :

Diameter of the particle

Eo :

Variable expressing the particle shape

\({ GVF}\) :

Gas volume fraction

\(Q_{\mathrm{{air}}}\) :

Volume flow rate of air

\(Q_{\mathrm{{water}}}\) :

Volume flow rate of water

\({Re}_\mathrm{p}\) :

Reynold’s number of particles

S :

Projected particle surface

\(\varvec{U}_{S}\) :

Slip velocity

\(U_\mathrm{T}\) :

Terminal velocity

\(V_{k}\) :

Volume of the particle

\(\alpha _{k}\) :

Volume fraction

\(\beta \) :

Diameter ratio of venturi meter

\(\rho \) :

Density of the measured fluid

\(\rho _{\mathrm{{water}}}\) :

Density of water

\(\rho _{\mathrm{{air}}}\) :

Density of air

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Acknowledgments

The project was supported by the Industrial Infrastructure Program through The Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology (KIAT) Grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Grant N0000502).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Design Engineering, Hanyang University, 222 Wangsimri-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Joon-Hyung Kim, Sung Kim & Joon-Yong Yoon

  2. Thermal & Fluid System R&BD Group, Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, 89 Yangdaegiro-gil, Ipjang-myeon, Seobuk-gu, Cheonan-si, Chungcheongnam-do, 331-822, Republic of Korea

    Joon-Hyung Kim, Uk-Hee Jung, Sung Kim & Young-Seok Choi

  3. Energy System Engineering, University of Science and Technology, 217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 305-350, Republic of Korea

    Young-Seok Choi

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  1. Joon-Hyung Kim
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Kim, JH., Jung, UH., Kim, S. et al. Uncertainty analysis of flow rate measurement for multiphase flow using CFD. Acta Mech. Sin. 31, 698–707 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-015-0493-7

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