Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Correction for energy loss coefficient of square-edged

orifice plate

Journal: Advances in Mechanical Engineering

Manuscript ID AME-20-0025

Manuscript Type: <font color=red>Research Article

Date Submitted by the

15-Jan-2020
Author:

Complete List of Authors: wanzheng, ai; port , port school

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Applied Mechanics, contraction ratio, energy dissipater, energy loss

Keywords:
coefficient, orifice plate, thickness
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A lot of studies have shown that orifice plate’s hydraulic characteristics

are mainly controlled by its contraction ratio, but square-edged orifice
plate’s thickness also has important impacts on its energy loss
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characteristics. In the present paper, the relationships between square-

edged orifice plate’s thickness and its energy loss characteristics are
Abstract:
investigated by simulations, and also, the rectified energy loss coefficient
empirical equation of it is put forward. The results of the present
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research demonstrate that the larger is its thickness, the smaller is its
energy loss coefficient. The results of model experiment are consistence
with the results calculated by using this paper’s rectified equation.
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Page 1 of 6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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4 Correction for energy loss coefficient of square-edged orifice plate
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6 Ai Wanzheng
7 Marine College of Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan 316000, P. R. China
8 Abstract: A lot of studies have shown that the hydraulic characteristics of orifice plate are mainly
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10 controlled by its contraction ratio, but the thickness of square-edged orifice plate also has many
11 impacts on energy loss characteristics. In this paper, the effects of square-edged orifice plate ‘s
12 thickness to energy loss characteristics are investigated by simulations, and also, the rectified
13
energy loss coefficient empirical equation of it is put forward. The results of the present research
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15 demonstrate that the larger is its thickness, the smaller is its energy loss coefficient. The results of
16 model experiment are consistence with the results calculated by using this paper’s rectified
17 equation.
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19 Keywords: energy loss coefficient; thickness; effects; correction; orifice plate
20 1 Introduction
21 Hydropower projects have developed for many years, and dams’ heights also have exceeded the
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23 300m level, such as 315m dam in the Shuangjiangkou hydropower project locating in Sichuan
24 province, China [1]. For flood discharges, the energy dissipation is a very important problem which
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25 is closely effect dam’s safety. However, the orifice plate dissipaters which can result flow’s
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sudden reduction and sudden enlargement, has been used for dissipation flow’s energy. Due to its
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28 simple structure, high energy dissipation ratio and convenient construction, as early as 1960s, a
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29 plug dissipater which is similar to orifice plate, was successfully used in Mica dam flood
30 discharge tunnel in Canada [2]. And the energy dissipation ratio can get to 50%.In the Xiaolangdi
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32 Projects of China, three-stage orifice plate also was applied in 2000, and the energy dissipation
33 ratio achieved to 44% , the flow velocity through the gate was controlled effectively less than
34 35m/s under 145m water head[3]. So orifice plate has an important function of dissipation flow’
35
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36 energy in high dam projects and its energy characteristics need to be researched carefully.
37 Square-edged orifice plate discharge tunnel flow is shown in figure 1. From this figure, it can be
38 learned that the vortex regions of ring form before and after the orifice plate due to it sudden
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reduction and sudden enlargement forms can dissipate flow’s energy dissipation. Meanwhile,
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41 when flow passed orifice plate, strong flow’s shear and turbulence layers also can dissipate flow’s
42 energy. For orifice plate energy loss coefficient, many researches were conducted. Wu [4] and Liu
43 [5]’s researches showed that the energy losses increased if the contraction ratio decreased
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45 (contraction ratio is the ratio of the orifice plate diameter d to flood discharge tunnel’s diameter D).
46 Empirical calculation equation for orifice plate energy loss is
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48   [1  0.707 1  (d / D) 2  (d / D) 2 ]2  ( D / d ) 4 (where ξ is the energy loss coefficient of
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50 square-edged orifice plate) [6]. As a matter of fact, the square-edged orifice plate thickness (T)
51 effects its backflow region length (Lb), and the backflow region is one of the important sources of
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orifice plate’s energy loss [4], the effect of square-edged orifice plate thickness (T) on its energy
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54 loss coefficient is also remarkable. So it is necessary to research the effect of orifice plate
55 thickness (T) on its energy loss coefficient. In the present paper, the effect of the square-edged
56 orifice plate thickness on energy loss coefficient is invested; and the empirical calculation
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58 equation for orifice plate energy loss of energy loss coefficient is corrected by simulation and
59 model experiments.
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 Advances in Mechanical Engineering Page 2 of 6

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3 1 2
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7 Flow d D
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11 1 T Lb 2
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Figure1. Flow through orifice plate
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16 2. Numerical simulation
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18 2.1 Numerical simulations model
19 The RNG k– model with good suitability, high precision and calculation stability, was used to
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21 calculate orifice plate flow parameters [7-8]. The model’s governing equations have continuity,
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22 momentum and the k– closure [9]. The calculation boundary conditions are treated: the turbulent
23 kinetic energy kin and the turbulent dissipation rate εin in the inflow boundary are be expressed,[9]:
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kin  0.0144uin2 ,  in  kin1.5 /  0.25 D 
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25 (1)
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27 In which, uin is average velocity in the inlet. In the outflow boundary, the flow can be deemed as
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developed fully. The wall boundary is controlled by the wall functions. And the flow’s radial
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30 velocity on symmetry axis is considered as zero.
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32 2.2 Simulations methods

33 Because orifice plate discharge tunnel is axial symmetry, two dimensional numerical
34 simulations of orifice plate discharge tunnel flow can be used. The energy loss coefficient can be
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36 calculated by using the following [10-12]:

37 p  p2 p
 1  (2)
38 0.5  u 2
0.5  u 2
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Where p1 is the pressure in flow undisturbed section before orifice plate, p2 is the pressure in flow
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41 already recovery section after orifice plate, ρ is flow’s density, u is flow average velocity in
42 discharge tunnel. Because when Reynolds number is more than 105, Reynolds number has little
43 effects on energy loss coefficient and its effects can be ignored [13-14]. Reynolds numbers arranged
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45 in simulation are all larger than 105 and their effects are all ignored in this paper’s simulation..
46 2.3 Simulation results and discussions
47 The results of simulation are shown in table 1 and figure 2. It can be learn from figure 2 that
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49 the effects of orifice plate thickness are remarkable, and the larger is thickness, the smaller is
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energy loss coefficient. Equation   [1  0.707 1  (d / D) 2  (d / D) 2 ]2  ( D / d ) 4 can be
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corrected by fitting the curves in figure 2:
54 0.7418
 [1  0.707 1  (d / D) 2  (d / D) 2 ] 2  ( D / d ) 4 (3)
55 (T / D) 0.1142
56 This above equation is useful in the condition of d/D = 0.4 – 0.8, T/D= 0.05 – 0.25 and Re >
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58 105(Re is Reynolds number).
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Page 3 of 6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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3 Table 1 the results of simulation
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5 d/D T/D= 0.05 T/D= 0.10 T/D= 0.15 T/D= 0.20 T/D= 0.25
6 0.40 ξ=2.38 ξ=2.36 ξ=2.19 ξ=2.01 ξ=1.90
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8 0.50 ξ=1.98 ξ=1.95 ξ=1.84 ξ=1.74 ξ=1.64
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0.60 ξ=1.59 ξ=1.58 ξ=1.49 ξ=1.43 ξ=1.33
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11 0.70 ξ=1.03 ξ=1.01 ξ=0.91 ξ=0.86 ξ=0.77
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13 0.80 ξ=0.61 ξ=0.59 ξ=0.57 ξ=0.53 ξ=0.49
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17 3.0
18 d/D=0.4 d/D=0.5 d/D=0.6 d/D=0.7 d/D=0.8
2.4
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20 1.8
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ξ

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22 1.2
23 0.6
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25 0.0
26 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25
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28 T/D
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30 Figure 2. The relationship between ξ and T/D
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3 Model experiment verification
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3.1 Model arrangement
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36 The experimental physical model is shown in figure 3, which includes an intake system, a tank,
37 a orifice plate discharge tunnel, and a return system with rectangular weir. The tunnel model
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diameter (D) is 0.21m, and the tunnel model length is 4.75 m from the intake to the outlet at the
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40 gate. The 10.0 D water head could be achieved by the intake system and the tank. 35 pieces of
41 small plastic tube along tunnel wall were utilized to measure wall pressure.
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58 Figure 3. Discharge tunnel model
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3 3.2 Experiment results
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5 The results of experiment are shown in table 2. The meanings of every symbol in table 2 are
6 as the following: p1 (Pa) is the pressure in flow undisturbed section before orifice plate, p2 is the
7 pressure in flow already recovery section after orifice plate; Re is Reynolds number of flow
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9 through discharge tunnel; H (m) is the height of tank water (water level). Q (m3/s) is discharge
10 volume.
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Table 2 the results of experiment
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13 phases H (m) Q(m3/s) Re(×105) p1/g (m) p2/g (m) ξ Average ξ
14 2.12 0.066278 0.352365 1.900 1.111 4.40
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d/D=0.7 1.70 0.059809 0.317973 1.530 0.909 4.08
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17 1.30 0.050995 0.271115 1.150 0.695 4.11 4.29
T/D=0.05
18 0.78 0.038757 0.206051 0.710 0.437 4.27
19 0.41 0.026744 0.142185 0.380 0.240 4.60
20 2.11 0.067411 0.35839 1.870 1.150 3.73
21 d/D=0.7
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1.70 0.060627 0.322322 1.510 0.940 3.65

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1.29 0.052285 0.27797 1.140 0.709 3.71 3.70
23 T/D=0.15
24 0.80 0.040555 0.215608 0.715 0.460 3.65
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25 0.40 0.027358 0.145449 0.370 0.250 3.77

26 2.09 0.067885 0.360911 1.855 1.182 3.43
27 d/D=0.7 1.72 0.061816 0.328642 1.515 0.990 3.23
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1.32 0.052977 0.281652 1.150 0.742 3.42 3.38

29 T/D=0.20
0.81 0.040397 0.214771 0.700 0.471 3.30
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31 0.41 0.027633 0.146908 0.370 0.255 3.54
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32 2.11 0.069028 0.366989 1.860 1.121 3.23

33 d/D=0.7 1.69 0.061907 0.32913 1.490 0.956 3.20
34 1.30 0.053151 0.282575 1.140 0.701 3.22 3.22
35 T/D=0.25
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0.82 0.041743 0.221924 0.720 0.413 3.22

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37 0.41 0.027977 0.148739 0.365 0.218 3.21
38 2.08 0.017208 0.091484 2.065 0.839 95.36
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d/D=0.4
39 1.69 0.015662 0.083267 1.673 0.686 94.61
94.69
40 T/D=0.10 1.27 0.013789 0.073311 1.269 0.513 93.49
41 0.82 0.010595 0.05633 0.795 0.340 95.30
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45 3.3 Analysis
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The comparisons between calculation results by using traditional empirical equation and
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48 calculation results by using Eq.(3) are shown in table 3. The meanings of symbols in table 3 are as
49 the following: ξ1 is the calculation energy loss coefficient by using traditional empirical equation;
50 ξ2 is the calculation energy loss coefficient by using Eq.(3). Er1-m is relative error of comparisons
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52 between calculation results by using traditional energy loss coefficient empirical equation and
53 experiment results. Er2-m is relative error between Eq.(3) calculation results and experiment data.
54 Er1-m and Er2-m can be expressed by Eq.(4) and Eq.(5) respectively.
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56  e  1
57 Er1 m   100% (4)
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e
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Page 5 of 6 Advances in Mechanical Engineering

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4 e 2
5 Er1 m  100% (5)
e
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7 The data in table 3 illuminate that the maximum relative error between experiment data and
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9 equation calculation result by using traditional empirical equation can reach to 33%, and the
10 maximum relative error between experiment result and calculation result by using Eq.(3) can
11 reach to 15%. The effect of orifice plate thickness is remarkable and cannot be ignored. The
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calculation results by using Eq.(3) are close to actual results, so Eq.(3) can be used to calculate
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14 energy loss coefficient of square-edged orifice plate instead of traditional empirical equation.
15 Table 3 the results of comparison
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17 phases ξ1 Er1-m(%) ξ2 Er2-m(%)
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d/D=0.7,T/D=0.05 4.290 0 4.480 4
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20 d/D=0.7,T/D=0.15 4.290 16 3.952 7
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22 d/D=0.7,T/D=0.20 4.290 27 3.824 13

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d/D=0.7,T/D=0.25 4.290 33 3.728 15
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25 d/D=0.4,T/D=0.10 86.487 9 83.452 11

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27 4 Conclusions
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For square-edged orifice plate energy dissipater, the relative orifice plate thickness T/D has
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30 remarkable impacts on its energy loss coefficient ξ. The larger is T/D, the smaller is energy loss
31 coefficient ξ. The corrected energy loss coefficient of square-edged orifice plate, including the
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32 effect of thickness, is put forward. Comparing with the physical model experimental data in table
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3, the relative errors of Eq. (3) is smaller than 15%.
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35 Funding
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36 Supported by the CRSRI Open Research Program (Program SN：CKWV2019388/KY)

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