Effect of asymmetric actuator and detector position on Coriolis flowmeter and measured phase shift

Coriolis flowmeters (CFM) are forced to vibrate by a periodic excitation usually applied midpipe through an electromagnetic actuator. From hands-on experience with industrial CFMs it appears, that the electromagnetic actuator has to be located as symmetric as possible. For CFM design and trouble-shooting it is of relevance to know how and if imperfections, related to the excitation location, influence the dynamic behavior of the vibrating fluid-conveying pipes employed in CFMs. A simple model of an imperfectly excited, simply supported, straight, single pipe CFM is investigated using a multiple time scaling perturbation analysis. The result is a simple analytical expression for the approximated phase shift, which offers a direct insight into how the location of the actuator influences the phase shift. It appears, that asymmetrical forcing combined with fluctuating pipe damping could be a factor contributing to lack of zero shift stability observed with some industrial CFMs. Tests of the approximated solution against results obtained by pure numerical analysis using Galerkin expansion show very good agreement. The effect of asymmetric detector positions is also investigated. Any asymmetry in the detectors position, e.g. due to manufacturing variations or improper handling of the CFM, induces a phase shift that leads to changes of the meter’s sensitivity, and could therefore result into erroneous measurements of the mass flow. This phase shift depends on the mass flow and does not contribute to a lacking zero-point stability. The validity of the hypotheses, which are assumed to be basically similar for more complicated geometries, e.g. bended and/or dual pipe CFMs, with or without multiple actuators, is suggested to be tested using laboratory experiments with purpose built non-ideal CFMs.

Research highlights
► Asymmetrical forcing induces phase shifts.
► Asymmetrical forcing could cause zero-shift stability problems.
► Asymmetrical motion detection due to improper handling changes flowmeter sensitivity.
► Asymmetrical forcing and motion detection could yield erroneous flowmeter readings.