Flow Measurements in Pipes and Ducts

The Flow Measurements in Pipes and Ducts online PDH course is a part of the Civil Engineering category of courses.

This course is about measurement of the flow rate of a fluid flowing under pressure in a closed conduit.  The closed conduit is often circular, but also may be square or rectangular (such as a heating duct) or any other shape.  The other major category of flow is open channel flow, which is the flow of a liquid with a free surface open to atmospheric pressure.  Measurement of the flow rate of a fluid flowing under pressure, is carried out for a variety of purposes, such as billing for water supply to homes or businesses or, for monitoring or process control of a wide variety of industrial processes, which involve flowing fluids.  Several categories of pipe flow measurement devices will be described and discussed, including some associated calculations.

This course is intended primarily for mechanical, civil and chemical, environmental, and industrial engineers.  Someone completing this course will gain knowledge about twelve different types of meters for measuring fluid flow rate in a closed conduit.  They will learn about typical calculations for differential pressure meters and pitot tubes.  They will learn the general principles of operation for each type and general advantages and disadvantages of each.

 Learning Objectives

At the end of the course, you will:

• Be able to calculate the liquid flow rate from measured pressure difference, fluid properties, and meter parameters, using the provided equations for venturi, orifice, and flow nozzle meters.
• Be able to calculate gas flow rate from measured pressure difference, fluid properties, and meter parameters, using the provided equations for venturi, orifice, and flow nozzle meters.
• Be able to determine which type of ISO standard pressure tap locations are being used for a given orifice meter.
• Be able to specify the distance of the upstream pressure tap from the face of an orifice meter for any of the three ISO standard pressure tap configurations.
• Be able to specify the distance of the downstream pressure tap from the face of an orifice meter for any of the three ISO standard pressure tap configurations.
• Be able to calculate the orifice coefficient, Co, for specified orifice and pipe diameters, pressure tap locations and fluid properties.
• Be able to estimate the density of a specified gas at specified temperature and pressure using the Ideal Gas Equation.
• Be able to calculate the velocity of a fluid for given pitot tube reading and fluid density.
• Know the basic differences between a transit time ultrasonic flow meter and a Doppler ultrasonic flow meter.
• Know the general configuration and principle of operation of rotameters and positive displacement, electromagnetic, target, turbine, vortex, ultrasonic, Coriolis mass flow, and thermal mass flow meters.
• Be familiar with the general characteristics of the types of flow meters discussed in this course, as summarized in Table 2 of the course content.