Abstract
The practical problem consists in measuring flow rates or flow speeds efficiently. Ideally, one would like to measure the flow rate accurately while affecting the flow as little as possible, generating very little extra pressure drop and flow disturbances while keeping to simple measuring devices. Sharp-edged orifice metres are the most common instruments used for flow rate measurement (about 50 % of the market). This is mainly because they are simple mechanical devices, easy to manufacture and without any moving part. However, they are rather energy inefficient. They consist in a circular hole drilled on a thin plate. The plate is then inserted into the pipe to create a pressure drop from which a mean flow-rate-based velocity can be deduced. An alternative, more efficient approach would be to redesign the circular orifice to control the flow. Here, we proposed to replace the ‘classical circular orifice’ by a fractal-based orifice. We found significant improvements with the fractal pattern. The main results are that the pressure loss which is the direct cost of the flowmeter is decreased by around 10 % with some fractal designs while the pressure drop across the orifice that is actually used for the measurement is barely affected.
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Nicolleau, F.C.G.A. (2016). Fractal Orifices in Pipe. In: Sakai, Y., Vassilicos, C. (eds) Fractal Flow Design: How to Design Bespoke Turbulence and Why. CISM International Centre for Mechanical Sciences, vol 568. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33310-6_4
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