QUEEN MARY, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING

DEN101 - FLUID MECHANICS

AIR FLOW AND VENTURI EXPERIMENT

1) Objectives:

i) To measure the flow of air in a pipe using a venturi.

ii) To compare this with flow calculated from a velocity traverse of the pipe using a
Pitot tube.
iii) To comment upon, and draw conclusions from, any differences between these
values.

2) Apparatus:

The apparatus, shown in Figure 1, consists of a circular pipe fed at the inlet with air from
a variable speed pump. The outlet of the pipe is to the atmosphere. The pipe narrows to
form a venturi and there are pressure tappings to a water manometer upstream and
downstream of this. The pipe diameters are marked on the apparatus. Further downstream
there is a Pitot tube which can be traversed across the pipe and positioned using a scale.
This is also connected to a water manometer.

3) Experimental Procedure

a) Switch on the pump and set to its maximum flow rate.

b) Take readings of the water levels in the venturi manometer.
c) Traverse the Pitot tube across the downstream pipe at intervals of 2mm in the
apparatus with the 29.6mm pipe and 4mm in the apparatus with the 50.5mm pipe.
Read the water levels in the Pitot tube manometer at each position on the traverse.
d) Repeat a) – c) for up to three further air flows.

4) Calculations

.
a) For each flow, calculate the mass flow rate of the air, m , using i) the venturi
manometer and ii) the Pitot tube readings. The theory behind these calculations
is given in the attached appendix.
APPENDIX - THEORY

All notation refers to Figure 1 below unless otherwise stated.

A.1) The Venturi

Applying the Bernoulli equation between points 1 and 2 in Figure 1 gives:

P1 V12 P V2
+ + gz1 = 2 + 2 + gz2 (1
ρa 2 ρa 2

Here P1 and P2 refer respectively to the pressure at sections 1 and 2. V1 and V2 are the
mean air velocity at these sections. ρ a is the air density. z1 and z2 are the heights of 1 and
2 above a datum.

If the datum is taken as the venturi pipe centreline then z1 = z2 = 0. Substituting this into
equation 1 and re-arranging:

2
V22 − V12 = ( P1 − P2 ) (2
ρa

.
By continuity the mass flow rate, m , is given by:

.
m = ρ a A1V1 = ρa A2V2
(3

A1 and A2 are the pipe cross-sectional areas at sections 1 and 2 respectively. Rearranging
equation 3 gives:

A1
V2 = V1
A2
(4

Substituting equation 4 into equation 2 gives:

2
 A1  2
  − 1 V12 = ( P1 − P2 ) (5
 A2  ρ a

Equalising pressures in the two manometer arms as shown in Figure 1:

P1 + ρa gh 1 + ρw gH 1 = P2 + ρa gh 2 + ρw gH 2 (6

ρ w is the density of the water in the manometer. Since the density of air is very much
less than that of water i.e. ρ a << ρ w then equation 6 can be written as:
 P1 − P2 = ρ w g ( H 2 − H1 ) = ρ w g∆H v
(7

Substituting equation 7 into equation 5 and rearranging gives:

 
 
 2 ρw g∆H v 
V1 =
 2 
(8
 ρa  A1 
 A  −1 
  2  

.
The mass flow rate, m , can then be found from equation 3.

A.2) The Pitot Tube

Points 3 and 4 are shown widely separated in Figure 1 for clarity. In reality they are very
close together. Applying Bernoulli's equation between points 3 and 4 gives:

P3 V32 P4 V42
+ = + (9
ρa 2 ρa 2

(Note that z3 = z4 since points 3 and 4 are almost coincident)

The fluid has been brought to rest at the tip of the Pitot tube (the "stagnation point") so
V4 = 0. Thus equation 9 can be written as:

2
V32 = ( P4 − P3 ) (10
ρa

But, using a similar analysis to that for the venturi manometer in equations 6 and 7:

P4 − P3 = ρw g ( H 3 − H 4 ) = ρw g∆H p (11

Thus substituting equation 11 into equation 10 and rearranging:

2( P4 − P3 ) 2 ρ w g∆ H p
V3 = = (12
ρa ρa
A.3) Determining the Mass Flow Rate from the Velocity Traverse

Consider the pipe cross-section shown in Figure 2. The velocity will fall from a
maximum on the pipe centre-line (r = 0) to zero at the pipe boundary (r = R). Since the
flow distribution is symmetrical, the velocity will be the same for any fixed distance, r,
from the pipe centre where 0 ≤ r ≤ R.
.
Thus the increment of mass flow, δ m , flowing through an element of area, δ A, with
thickness, δr , at distance r from the centre-line, as shown in Figure 2 is:
.
δ m = ρ aV (r )δA
(13

V(r) is the velocity at distance r from the centre-line.

The element of area is a thin annulus and so:

δA = 2π rδ r (14

Substituting equation 14 into equation 15:

.
δ m = ρ aV (r ). 2π rδ r (15

In order to obtain the total mass flow rate the incremental flow rates must be summed
from the centre-line to the edge of the pipe, thus:

. r =R . r =R R

m= ∑ δ m = 2π ρ ∑V (r )r δ r → 2π ρ ∫ V (r )r dr
r =0
a
r =0
a (16
0

The value of the integral ∫V (r )r dr

0
can be found by plotting a graph of V(r).r against r

for the velocity traverse results.

Figure 2 – Pipe cross-section showing typical element of area