A study of 3-dimensional flow through orifice meters

Uncertainty in orifice metering accuracy is estimated to account for mischarges on the order of 250 million dollars annually in the natural gas industry. Consequently, attempts are now being made to improve the accuracy of existing orifice metering facilities. Most prior efforts toward this end have concentrated on determination of the discharge coefficients. The objective of this study was to increase the knowledge of the flow field present in a typical orifice meter. This was accomplished by using a 3-D LDV (Laser Doppler Velocimeter) to collect detailed 3-D velocity measurements within an orifice meter (...