Discharge Coefficient

in Flow Calculation and Measurement

INTRODUCTION Pressure Taps

Measuring the volumetric flow rate in

tubes, pipes and other conduits is an
important task in fluid mechanics. One
technique is to use a specially designed
nozzle or orifice plate (a plate with a h1 Flow h2
hole in its center) to restrict fluid flow. P2, V 2, A 2
P1, V 1, A1
By measuring the pressure drop across
this restraint, and using basic fluid me-
chanics principles, one can determine
the volumetric flow rate or velocity of a
fluid passing through a tube or pipe. An Nozzle Figure 1. Diagram of a Typical Flow Meter.
important element in this process is the
discharge coefficient, which is defined
It is clear from the diagram that the theoretical flow rates do not account for
as: “In a nozzle or other constriction,
flow approaches and passes through momentum losses in the pipe, mostly
the ratio of the mass flow rate at the
a constriction, e.g., a nozzle or orifice. in the nozzle region, due to such fac-
discharge end of the nozzle to that of
Pressure taps in the walls of the pipe tors as friction and turbulence. This is
an ideal nozzle which expands an iden-
are used to measure the pressure dif- where the discharge coefficient comes
tical working fluid from the same initial
ferential of fluid at two points (i.e., the into play.
conditions to the same exit pressure”
red dots) in the flow path. The first point
[1]. Essentially, the discharge coeffi-
is upstream of the nozzle. Here,the The discharge coefficient can be
cient is a means of accounting for the
cross-sectional area is larger, the flow thought of as a correction factor for
non-ideal losses associated with fric-
is slower and the pressure is higher “real” flow meter devices. It is typically
tion and other effects that are inherent
than at the second point, the nozzle determined experimentally for different
to pressure differential flow measure-
region. flow meters. Correlation equations can
ment devices.
be used to calculate the real “corrected”
With the cross-sectional area of the flow rate through a given meter.
Theory and Discussion
upstream and nozzle regions known,
along with the pressure differential, it is With this brief overview, it is possible
To better understand the role of the dis-
possible to calculate a theoretical flow to develop the basic equations used in
charge coefficient, it is helpful to look at
rate through the pipe using conserva- flow meter calculations. We begin by
a typical flow meter’s construction, as
tion of mass and momentum. But, these considering the Bernoulli equation for a
shown in Figure 1.
steady state, incompressible flow:
 (1) If the expression is re-written in terms Where:
of diameters, and with the head pres- Cd = Discharge coefficient
Where: sure considered negligible, the follow-
P = Absolute pressure ing simplified expression results: The value of the discharge coefficient
1/2 is usually determined experimentally
V = Velocity  2  4 4  
G=  (5)
ρ = Density of the fluid  4 4  (P1 -P2 ) for different types of flow meters. It is a
8  D -d   function of the Reynolds number or the
g = Gravitational constant
ratio of the inlet and exit cross-section-
h = Height of each point in the flow al areas. Using these discharge coef-
Where:
path. The height difference is ficient values along with the geometry
considered the “head pressure” in the D = Larger upstream diameter of the
of the flow nozzle, and the measured
system. For most typical flow meters pipe approaching the nozzle or orifice
pressure differential it is possible to cal-
this is considered negligible. d = Smaller nozzle or orifice diameter culate the flow rate.

This equation can be combined with To account for the frictional and turbu- Some common examples of flow mea-
the equation of continuity: lence related losses in the nozzle orifice surement devices with discharge co-
the discharge coefficient is introduced. efficient correlations are shown here.
(2)
The first of these is the Venturi nozzle
1/2
 2  4 4   as shown in Figure 2 [2].
Where: G=Cd   4 4  (P1 -P2 ) (6)
8  D -d  
(3)

And:
= Mass flow rate
G = Volumetric flow rate Figure 2. Diagram of Venturi Nozzle [2].

A = Cross-sectional area at each

measurement point.

The result is a general expression for

the volumetric flow rate:

1/2
 
 
1 2
G= 
 1 1 
[ 1 2 1 2 ] (4)
 2 - 2  
  A 2 A1  

February 2008 |Qpedia 25

THERMAL FUNDAMENTALS

Figure 3. Plot of Discharge Coefficient as

a Function of the Nozzle Diameter Ratio
(d/D) [3].

The Venturi nozzle discharge coefficient equation is [3]: Also popular is the ISA 1932 nozzle, which is shown in
Figure 4.
Cd = 0.9858 - 0.196 (d/D)4.5 (7)
The ISA 1932 nozzle discharge coefficient equation is [3]:
Where:
The discharge coefficient equation is valid for: 0.316 ≤ d/D Cd = 0.99 - 0.2262(d/D)4.1 - [0.00175(d/D)2 - (8)
≤ 0.775, 1.5x105 ≤ ReD ≤ 2x106, 6.5 cm ≤ D ≤ 50 cm, d ≥ 5 0.0033(d/D)4.15] [106/ReD]115
cm, and k/D ≤ 3.8x10-4 generally.

A plot of the discharge coefficients as function of nozzle Where:

diameter ratio is shown in Figure 3. The discharge coefficient equation is valid for: 5 cm ≤ D ≤
50 cm and 0.3 ≤ d/D < 0.44 having 7x104 ≤ ReD ≤ 107 and
The Venturi nozzle is excellent for low pressure head ap- 0.44 ≤ d/D ≤ 0.8 having 2x104 ≤ ReD ≤ 107 and k/D ≤ 3.8
plications, as the recovery pressure for the fluid exiting the x10-4 generally for all d/D.
nozzle is minimal. This is due to the diverging nozzle design,
which allows the fluid exiting the nozzle to return to the pre-
nozzle pressure state with no vena contracta and minimal
Figure 5. Plot of Discharge Coefficient as a
turbulence. The accuracy of the Venturi nozzle is typically Function of Re Number [3].
1% of full range [2].

Figure 4. Diagram of an ISA 1932 Nozzle [2].

The ISA flow nozzle is another variant
of the Venturi nozzle, but without the
diverging section which minimizes the
pressure head recovery loss. The ac-
curacy of this nozzle is typically in the
1-2% range [2].

In conclusion, flow meters can predict

the flow rate of fluids through pipes and
tubes of various diameters by using the
unique discharge coefficients that are
determined experimentally for each
flow meter type. The discharge coeffi-
cient can be thought of as a measure
of how efficiently the flow meter is oper-
ating. Under ideal conditions, there will
be no losses due to friction, turbulence
or other fluid effects, but this is not
true of real devices and systems. The
discharge coefficient gives us a way
to characterize these “other” effects.
When used with the basic fluid me-
chanics equations, they can be used
to solve a variety of fluid measurement
problems.

References:

1. Discharge Coefficient, McGraw-Hill Dic-

tionary of Scientific and Technical Terms.
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2003.

2. Orifice, Nozzle and Venturi Flow Rate

Meters, The Engineering ToolBox 2005,
www.engineeringtoolbox.com/flow-meters-
d_493.html, January 2008.

3. Nozzle Flowmeter Calculation for Liq-

uids. ISO-5167 equation, LMNO Engineer-
ing, Research, and Software, Ltd., www.
lmnoeng.com/nozzles.htm, January 2008.

February 2008 |Qpedia 27