TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title ............................................................................................................ Page

1. Experiment Title ..........................................................................................................2
1.1. Experiment objectives .................................................................................2
2. Introduction ..................................................................................................................2
3. Theoretical background ...............................................................................................2
4. Apparatus and procedure ......................................................................................... 3-4
4.1. Apparatus ....................................................................................................3
4.2. Procedure/s ..................................................................................................3
5. Results ...........................................................................................................................5
6. Discussion .....................................................................................................................5
7. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................6
8. Recommendation ..........................................................................................................6
9. References .....................................................................................................................7


2 Page

1. EXPERIMENT TITLE: PRESSURE MEASUREMENT AND
CALIBRATION

1.1. Experiment objective:
- Calibrate the pressure gauge using a dead weight tester.

2. INTRODUCTION:
In engineering, properties of materials such as pressure, density, ductility,
toughness, and hardness are important to be studied as these affect the
performance of many industrial applications.
To determine these properties, different types of apparatus are used. One of the
most commonly used apparatus to determine such properties (in this case the
pressure) is the pressure gauge. Many instruments have been invented to
measure pressure, with different advantages and disadvantages. Pressure range,
sensitivity, dynamic response and cost all vary by several orders of magnitude
from one instrument design to the next. The oldest type is the liquid column (a
vertical tube filled with mercury) manometer invented by Evangelista Torricelli in
1643. The U-Tube was invented by Christian Huygens in 1661. [1].
For a mechanical pressure gauge, accuracy is defined as a percentage of the
full-scale range [2]. To make sure that the apparatus (pressure gauge) is
accurate, a calibration method called dead weight tester (DWT) is used, using a
dead weight tester apparatus.

: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND . 3
Pascals principle (definition of pressure):

Used to determine-calculate the actual pressure that is needed in the testing of
the pressure gauge.
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Apparatus and Procedure: 4.
4.1. Apparatus:
Deadweight tester (figure 1): apparatus uses known traceable weights to
apply pressure to a fluid for checking the accuracy of readings from a
pressure gauge [3].









4.2. PROCEDURE:

1- Bleeding the apparatus - using water as the fluid (figure 2) to apply pressure
(load) on it.

2- Placing weights (figure 3) on the table (figure 4) and reading off the pressure
for each weight (increasing pressure).


3- Removing the weights from the table and reading off the pressure readings
on the gauge again (decreasing pressure).


(Figure 1): Deadweight tester apparatus- readings from a supplied pressure gauge
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(Figure 3): Different weight up to 5.2 kg. to be placed on the table above the piston.
(Figure 4): The piston which holds the weights on its surface
(Figure 2): The operating fluid. Type: water
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: RESULTS 5.
pressure Decreasing pressure Increasing
Actual
Pressure
Total
mass on
piston
Mass added
to piston
Gauge
error %
Gauge
reading
(kN/m
2
)
Gauge
error %
Gauge
reading
(kN/m
2
)
(kN/m
2
) (kg) (kg)
3.69 30 3.69 30 31.15 1 1
3.64 45 5.78 44 46.70 1.5 0.5
3.66 60 3.66 60 62.28 2 0.5
4.94 74 7.51 72 77.85 2.5 0.5
9.01 85 4.73 89 93.42 3 0.5
7.67 115 3.66 120 124.57 4 1
8.16 143 4.95 148 155.71 5 1
6.34 175 6.34 175 186.85 6 1

6. DISCUSSION:
As results shown, different types of weight were placed on the piston starting with
1 kg. of the piston weight itself, after this a 0.5 kg. and 1 kg. weights were added
gradually.
For the increasing pressure the error between the pressure gauge reading and
the actual pressure is start to be 3.69% for the first amount of weight, this shows
that there could be some friction, or due to lack of accuracy when reading the
gauge pressure, or it need more time to adjust itself as a first load on the piston.
The error decrease and increase with small amount, 5.78% for 1.5 kg. and 3.66%
for 2 kg, but after the third load were placed on the piston which equal 2.5 kg, the
error increased up to 7.51%, on this point an inaccurate reading for the pressure
gauge could be the main reason. After adding the next load the error decreased
and almost being stable at 3.66% comparing to the first load.
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As the last weight added which equal 6 kg, the error increased again up to
6.34%, for this level a 6 kg weight could be considered as an over max weight for
the apparatus, as the recommended max weight is 5.2 kg for the apparatus used
in the test.
For the decreasing pressure the error between the pressure gauge reading and
the actual pressure is said to be almost same to the increasing pressure, as
weight are removed gradually, the error should not reach a very high or very low
amount as it is a reverse action by removing the same loads which were added
respectively (same sequence).
It started with 6.34% and ended up with 3.69%, in between there were small
amounts of decreases and increases but for the load 2.5 kg the error was 4.94%
as it had a high error at the increasing pressure comparing to other errors during
the test.

7. CONCLUSION:
To conclude, using a dead weight tester method and its apparatus to calibrate
the pressure gauge would give an overall good result but there are many
effects that could change or decrease the accuracy of the gauge.

8. RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Using oil or air (gas) as an operation fluid, as they should give better or more
accurate results than water depending on the job site-manufacturer.
- Using a bigger or portable modified dimension for the deadweight tester to
increase the ability of taking or placing more loads (weights).



7 Page

9. REFERENCES:
[1]- Pressure measurement, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressure_gauge
accessed October 7, 2013.
[2]- Seven steps to select a pressure gauge,
http://www.ashcroft.com/tech/upload/AshBulG_7.pdf accessed October 7,
2013.
[3]- Deadweight tester, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_tester
accessed October 7, 2013.