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Title of Report: Bernoulli’s Experiment

 To compare the behaviour of ideal and real fluids using a Venturi meter.
 To observe the 'venturi effect' and consider its applications.
1. Description of apparatus

A Venturi meter is an apparatus that is used to determined flow rates through. It does
this by measuring pressure difference created by a contraction in a pipe. As the flow
passes through the contraction, its velocity increases and so the pressure subsequently
drops. By determining the two pressures, engineers are able to calculate the velocity of
the fluid. If the diameter of the pipe is known, this velocity can easily be converted into
a flow rate (Munson et al., 2013)

The entry point of the Venturi is cylindrically shaped and matches the size of the pipe
carrying the flow. This allows the Venturi to be fitted to the pipe. At the middle section of
the Venturi is converging conical section that has an included angle of between 19 o and
23o. At the end of the converging section is another cylindrical section with a minimum
area. This section in known as the throat. Beyond the throat section is diverging conical
section with an included angle of between 5 o and 15o (Lupei, 2016). The Venturi section
has openings at the entry and throat sections (sections 1 and 2 in Fig. 2) where a
differential pressure sensor is attached.

Figure 1: The Venturi section

If we assume the fluid flowing through the Venturi meter is an ideal fluid with a constant
density, then its behaviour can be predicted using Bernoulli’s Equation.

2
v p
Z+ + =constant =H =total head ( m ) (1)
2 g ρg

Where:

Z = potential head

2
v
= kinetic head
2g

p
= pressure head
ρg

In a connected system, Bernoulli’s theorem states that an ideal fluid must maintain its
total energy at all pints provided there is no energy loss either due to friction or other
factors. Therefore,

2 2
v p v n pn
Z+ + =Z n+ + (2)
2 g ρg 2 g ρg

The theorem further postulates that the piezometric head at any point is equivalent to
the sum of both potential and pressure heads. With this in mind, Eq. 2 becomes:

[ ][ ]
2 2
p1 pn vn v1
+ Z1 − + Z n = − (3)
ρg ρg 2g 2g

But since the Venturi is horizontal, then Z1 =Z 2 … .=Z n. The above equation can now be
simplified as:

2 2
p 1− pn v 1−v n
= (4)
ρg 2g

This equation, therefore, means that since the inlet and outlet diameters of the Venturi
meter are equal, then so must be the inlet and outlet velocities. Also, Eq. 1 and 2 predict
that in an ideal fluid, the first and the last piezometric heights must be equal while Eq. 4
predicts that any change in the piezometric head must bring about a change in the
piezometric head. This is known as Bernoulli’s effect (Welty, Rorrer, and Foster, 2014).

3. Experimental procedure

Basically, the fluid whose flow rate is to be determined enters the Venturi meter at the
entry section with a pressure P1. The converging section gradually reduces this
pressure up to a minimum pressure P2 at the throat. The differential pressure sensor
records this pressure difference and is an indication of the rate of flow.

A steady flow was established and the rate of flow (Q) determined using the weight
bench. A total of three readings were recorded. The piezometric head values (h) for all
the 11 points along the Venturi meter were also recorded for each flow rate.

It should be noted that the diverging section is provided to allow the fluid to regain its
pressure and, hence, its kinetic energy. The lesser the included angle at the diverging
section, the greater the pressure recovery.

4. Experimental results

Table 1: Results
Position A B C D E F G H I J K
Diamter (mm) 26 23.2 18.4 16 16.8 18.47 20.16 21.84 23.53 25.24 26
Area (mm2) 531.1 422.9 266.0 201.1 221.8 268.0 319.3 374.8 435.0 500.5 531.1
Area (m2) 0.000531 0.000423 0.000266 0.000201 0.000222 0.000268 0.000319 0.000375 0.000435 0.000501 0.000531

Test Mass (kg) Time (s) Q (m3/s) Distance from A (mm) 0 0.02 0.032 0.046 0.061 0.076 0.091 0.106 0.121 0.136 0.156
1 6 14.12 0.000416 hn experimental (m) 0.27 0.26 0.188 0.075 0.089 0.152 0.187 0.21 0.222 0.232 0.238
14.44 vn (m/s) 0.784 0.985 1.566 2.071 1.878 1.554 1.304 1.111 0.957 0.832 0.784
14.66 hn theoretical (m) 0.270 0.252 0.176 0.083 0.122 0.178 0.215 0.238 0.255 0.266 0.270
Average time (s) 14.41

2 6 17.16 0.000347 hn experimental (m) 0.26 0.252 0.196 0.112 0.12 0.169 0.195 0.213 0.223 0.23 0.235
17.3 vn (m/s) 0.653 0.821 1.305 1.725 1.565 1.295 1.087 0.926 0.798 0.693 0.653
17.41 hn theoretical (m) 0.260 0.247 0.195 0.130 0.157 0.196 0.222 0.238 0.249 0.257 0.260
Average time (s) 17.29

3 6 19.35 0.000311 hn experimental (m) 0.25 0.242 0.207 0.137 0.143 0.179 0.198 0.212 0.219 0.225 0.23
19.25 vn (m/s) 0.585 0.734 1.168 1.544 1.401 1.159 0.973 0.829 0.714 0.621 0.585
19.35 hn theoretical (m) 0.292 0.282 0.240 0.188 0.210 0.241 0.261 0.275 0.284 0.290 0.292
Average time (s) 19.32
Graphs

Figure 2: Graph of theoretical hn against position along the Venturi meter for Test 1

Figure 3: Graph of theoretical hn against position along Venturi meter for Test 2
Figure 4: Graph of theoretical hn against position along Venturi for Test 3
5. Discussion and conclusions

Flow rate through the Venturi meter was determined by measuring the time it took to
collect 6kg of water at the exit section. Therefore, mass flow rate of water was
calculated as:

m(kg)
ṁ= (5)
T (s)

Where:

ṁ = the mass flow rate of water in kg/s

m = mass of water in kg

T = time taken to collect a given mass of water

By assuming that the density of water is 1000 kg/m3, then the mass flow rate of water
was calculated as:

ṁ
Q= (6)
ρ

Where:
Q = volumetric flow rate of water in m3/s

ρ = density of water (1000 kg/m3)

From the Bernoulli Effect, the hydrostatic pressure (p) of a fluid with depth (h) is
calculated as:

P= ρgh(7)

With this in mind, Eq. 3 can be simplified as:

[ ]
2 2
v n−v 1
h n=h1− (8)
2g

The value of h n represents the theoretical piezometric head. From the results shown in
Table 1, it can be observed that the first piezometric head (at position A) is equivalent to
the last piezometric head (at position K) in all tests. This confirms the Bernoulli Effect
that predicts that the first piezometric height must be the same as the last piezometric
height. However, the experimental results of the piezometric head in each test shows
that the water used in this experiment did not obey the Bernoulli Effect. This observation
is illustrated in Fig. 2, 3 and 4. These three graphs confirm that water does not behave
like an ideal fluid. Despite this, the experiment itself generally demonstrate the Bernoulli
Effect with respect to the theoretical values of velocity of flow. Fig. 2, 3 and 4 show that
a change in velocity along the Venturi meter produces a corresponding change in the
piezometric head. For instance, as the velocity of flow increases, the piezometric head
decreases. This observation can be attributed to the reduction of pressure as the
velocity increases. This is similar to the behaviour of an ideal fluid under the influence of
the Bernoulli Effect.

The Bernoulli Effect can be found in real life applications. For example, it can be applied
in applications that require a high pressure recovery after a constriction. The most
common are chimneys, spray-bottles, and atomisers like carburettors, garden-hose
attachments and high-pressure car wash applications. In spray bottles and spray guns,
the air inside moves slowly and, according to the Bernoulli Effect, pressure inside will be
high. As such, the high pressure will exert a strong downward force on the liquid inside
it. A small squeeze pump towards the top of the bottle constricts the movement of air
out of the bottle that increases the speed of liquid ejected from the spray nozzle. The
effect can also be used in the measurement of flow rates of suspended solids, dirty
liquids and slurries as well as high flow rates in pipes with small diameters (Muralidhar,
and Biswas, 2015).

In real fluid flow systems like pipes, energy is lost due to friction and other factors such
as pipe fittings, friction between fluid and piping walls and friction between the adjacent
fluids. Rough interior surface of pipes, for instance, leads to higher energy losses due to
increased resistance to fluid flow. Also, higher viscosity fluids have higher losses.
Longer pipes and those with smaller diameters also demonstrate increased energy
losses. Better designs of such systems can reduce energy losses and these designs
have to be incorporated at the construction stage. For instance, the inside surfaces of
pipes have to be as smooth as possible and pipe diameters have to be designed at an
optimal minimal value. Long piping systems should also be avoided (Muralidhar, and
Biswas, 2015).

As this experiment has shown, ideal fluid systems operate on the assumption that there
are zero energy losses during operation. However, when using real fluids, energy and
efficiency losses are often inevitable and is mostly caused by friction. In real life
applications, friction, as well as other causes of energy losses, cannot be eliminated.
They can only be minimised using proper designs.

6. References

Lupei, B. (2016). Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements. 1st ed. Cottage:
Scitus Academics.

Munson, B., Okiishi, T., Huebsch, W., Rothmayer, A. and Munson, B. (2013).
Fundamentals of Fluid Mechanics, 7th Edition. 1st ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley
& Sons, Inc.

Muralidhar, K. and Biswas, G. (2015). Advanced Engineering Fluid Mechanics. 1st ed.
Oxford: Alpha Science International Ltd.
Welty, J., Rorrer, G. and Foster, D. (2014). Fundamentals of Momentum, Heat, and
Mass Transfer. 6th ed. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley