Time resolved measurement of pulsating flow using orifices

This article reviews the theoretical background of the measurement of pulsating flow using orifices as flow to pressure transducers, providing a synopsis of work done in this field. Special attention is paid to the temporal inertia and the applicability of expressions thereof given in the literature. Other factors influencing the measurement, such as changing flow profiles and the effect of connection tubes between the pressure sensor and the orifice are discussed. An experiment was performed to investigate the applicability of an equation taking reverse flow and temporal inertia into account for the measurement of pulsating flow with relative pulsation amplitudes around 1 and frequencies up to 50 Hz. It was found that the suggested equation may give tolerable results if the ratio of the pulsating part of the velocity to the angular frequency times orifice diameter is not too high. For high ratios, however, the results could not be explained by the suggested equation.

Research highlights
► Review of pulsating and reversing flow measurement using orifices.
► Motivation of a generalized flow equation for pulsating, reversing flow.
► Experimental evidence that the equation yields fair results within a certain range.