Vortex Shedding Flow Meters

Operating Principle
When a fluid stream encounters a rock or another obstruction, it separates, moves around
the object and flows downstream. At the point of contact, eddy currents or vortex swirls are
formed alternately on either side of the object. This creates a local increase in pressure and
a local decrease in velocity on one side of the obstruction. Meanwhile, it creates a local
decrease in pressure and a local increase in velocity on the other side of the object. After
shedding a swirl from one side, the process is reversed and a vortex or a swirl is shed from
the other side. The frequency of this alternating shedding process is proportional to the
velocity of the flowing stream as it passes the point of contact.

In the vortex shedding flow meter, the flow path is obstructed by a bluff body (or strut) that
creates the vortex swirl.
In 1912, Theodor von Karman pioneered early bluff body design in vortex metering
development. This led to later awareness that sharp-edged bluff bodies (struts) improve the
strength and consistency of vortex shedding. Therefore, we now refer to a series or pattern
of vortex swirls as "a von Karman vortex street".
The rate of vortex shedding is detected by an ultrasonic, electronic, or fiberoptic sensor that
monitors the changes in the vortex pattern, or von Karman vortex street downstream from
the bluff body, transmitting a pulsating output signal to external readouts or data acquisition
equipment.
There are no moving parts in a vortex shedding flow meter.
The average fluid velocity is proportional to the frequency of vortex shedding and the width
of the bluff body (strut). This proportionality is defined as the Strouhal number, which is
dimensionless.
Therefore: St = fd / v
Where: St = Strouhal number
f = frequency of vortex shedding
d = width of bluff body
v = average fluid velocity

The actual width of a bluff body within a specific vortex meter is fixed, therefore, a constant.
The frequency of vortex shedding is linearly proportional to the average flowing velocity
over a wide range of Reynolds numbers.* Today, most vortex shedding flow meters operate
accurately at Reynolds numbers from 10,000 up to 10,000,000.
The vortex shedding flow meter is a volumetric flow meter. Therefore, to define the
mathematics of vortex metering, we must first define the following relationships of
volumetric flow.
Q = Av
Where: Q = volumetric flow rate
v = average fluid velocity
A = cross sectional area of flow path
If a Strouhal number is substituted for average fluid velocity (" v "), it becomes;
Q = fdA / St
Since the Strouhal number, and bluff body width, and the cross sectional area of the flow
meter are all constants (which is defined as "K"), the equation becomes;
Q = f/K
Similar to other frequency-producing flow meters, such as the turbine meter, this "K" factor
can be defined as pulses per unit volume, such as pulses per gallon, pulses per liter, pulses
per cubic foot. Therefore, all that is needed is a defined pulse per unit time to indicate the
flow rate such as GPM, lpm, or ft/sec.