NABL 106

National Accreditation Board for Testing

and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)

Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow

Testing Laboratories

ISSUE NO. : 03 AMENDMENT NO. : 00

ISSUE DATE : 25-Apr-2016 AMENDMENT DATE : --
 AMENDMENT SHEET

Sl Page Clause Date of Amendment Reasons Signature Signature

no No. No. Amendment QM Director
1

10

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 1/10
 Contents

S.NO. SECTION PAGE NO.

Amendment Sheet 1
Contents 2
1. Introduction 3
2. Personnel and Training 4
3. Sampling Procedure 6
4. Infrastructural Requirements 7
5. Groups of Fluid Flow testing 10

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 2/10
1 Introduction

1.1 Testing and Calibration Laboratories that wish to obtain and maintain NABL
accreditation must comply with the requirements of ISO/ IEC 17025:2005 “General
Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories”.

1.2 Fluid Flow is one of the following fields in which NABL currently gives accreditation.

1.3 This document on “Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories” is one of a
series of supplementary guidelines of the document ISO/ IEC 17025: 2005 “General
Requirements for the Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories”.

1.4 Fluid Flow is one of the fields in which NABL currently grants accreditation.

1.5 The information contained in this document must be read alongwith the document ISO/
IEC 17025: 2005.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 3/10
2 Personnel and Training
The officer-in-charge of a laboratory and section heads in larger laboratories must have sound
knowledge of the principles of the testing in the discipline, have the analytical acumen to
evaluate the test results and be able to provide adequate supervision.

2.1 The fluid flow testing laboratory shall be headed by a person preferably having a post
graduate degree in physics or equivalent or Bachelor degree in mechanical
engineering / technology or equivalent with adequate experience in the relevant area
especially in the analysis of testing of relevant products.

The minimum qualification for the technical staff in a fluid flow testing laboratory shall
be Graduate in Science with physics as one of the subjects or Diploma in mechanical
engineering / technology or equivalent or specialization in relevant fields of the subject.
The staff shall have sufficient training and exposure in analysis and testing of
appropriate products.

The laboratory technicians or equivalent shall have higher secondary certificate in

science / ITI and at least one year experience or training in a relevant laboratory.

2.2 Authorized signatory should fulfill either of the following requirements:

Minimum Years of Two Five Ten
Experience
Minimum
Qualifications
Degree (Engg.) / Same field of Similar field of -
Post Graduate in Science testing testing
Diploma (Engg.) / - Same field of Similar field of
Graduate in Science testing testing
ITI / Equivalent - - Same field of
testing
Note -
(a) Similar field may be considered when that particular subject / field of testing is
covered in at least one year of the course;
(b) In each case, merely requisite qualifications and experience is not sufficient to
become the Authorized signatory; the technical competence will be verified by
NABL assessment team before recommending as authorized signatory.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 4/10
2.3 All laboratories must have provision of control and supervision of laboratory operations
during the period of valid accreditation. at all times

2.4 There shall be a system for imparting training to laboratory technical staff at various
level and wherever required before assigning any testing work. Staff may be asked to
demonstrate techniques during assessment or to undertake longer test before or after
assessment.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 5/10
3 Sampling Procedure

3.1 Sampling procedures and preparations of test samples for fluid flow testing shall be
done as per the national/ international methods.

3.2 The sampling procedures to be adopted shall be considered in conjunction with the
testing involved as per norms.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 6/10
4 Infrastructural Requirements

4.1 Facilities for the normal operations in the test laboratories like compressed air supply,
water supply and storage, oil storage, etc. should be of adequate capacity /
specifications available.

4.2 Electrical Power Supply

Where the range and accuracy of testing activity demands specific quality and capacity
requirements in the installed or procurable power supply (for example in terms of
frequency consistency, voltage, fluctuation tolerance, power capacity, continuous
uninterrupted availability of power etc.). NABL may verify these requirements specially
through documentary evidence or otherwise for adequacy and compliance.

4.3 Environmental Requirements

The following details give broad guidelines relating to important factors which must be
taken into account when the environmental / testing conditions of a laboratory are
considered:
- In all cases, it is imperative that the flow conditions at the test section be checked
to ensure that the flow is sufficiently steady, the velocity distribution across the test
cross-section is symmetrical and the flow is free from swirl (e.g. by pitot traverse
measurements).

- Working fluid must be clean and the degree of cleanliness will be determined by the
type of flow meters being tested e.g. in turbine type flow meters the bearings can
be affected, it needs greater fluid cleanliness compared to the ventury tubes. The
working liquid must be of uniform composition and temperature. The liquid
temperature stability criteria must be met for the test media. In case the variation is
more than  1 deg C/hour, results shall be corrected appropriately. The sump tank
& constant and over tank shall be cleaned periodically, preferably at least once in a
year.

- Density and viscosity (wherever felt necessary by laboratory) of the fluid must be
measured at the temperature at which the testing is performed and recorded. It is a
common practice to check these variables at a recognized reference temperature in
addition to the working temperature. For convenience, the measure of viscosity
may be taken as kinematic viscosity rather than absolute viscosity.
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories
Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 7/10
 - Accurate measurement of density is essential, in case testing is based on
volumetric ground. Measurement of density in liquids shall be made by equipments
like hydrometer, density ball or density bottle.

- Fluid flow control test circuit must be such that:

a) Operation of controlling device has no effect on flow meter testing.

b) Any drop in pressure at the flow meter does not cause dissolved gases to
come out of solution/ cavitation to occur.
c) The flow meter and complete system continue to run full under all conditions
with no stagnant volumes in the circuit.

The present assessment does not include approval of safety precautions in the
laboratory against fire risk from inflammable liquids. However, the laboratory must
convince that clearance has been obtained from appropriate authorities such as
local fire-brigade etc. for all necessary safety precautions in the laboratory.

- The laboratory must be adequately kept clean and well maintained. It should be
adequately ventilated to prevent accumulation of flammable vapours.

4.4 Specific Auxiliary Facilities

In cases where the test specimens or test models are prepared/ manufactured by the
laboratory concerned, NABL will verify whether the facilities available meet such
requirements adequately and also comply with written procedures. (These may involve
model manufacturing / fabrication shops, tool room facilities, etc.).

4.5 Materials Handling Equipment

Appropriate/ adequate material handling facilities like pallets, forklifts, cranes, etc.,
must be available from the point of view of safety, capacity and suitability for handling.
This will be reviewed by NABL for range, type of testing and the magnitude of risks
involved.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 8/10
4.6 Site Testing

Specific guidelines must be documented regarding the control of environmental

requirements like power supply, calibration facilities or equipment checking facilities,
material handling devices like cranes, lifts, etc. if testing is done at sites other than the
laboratory premises. For Site testing activities, laboratory shall comply with NABL
requirements mentioned in NABL 130 “Specific Criteria for Site Testing and Site
Calibration Laboratories”

If there is any problem envisaged like the absence of authorized signatory at the test
sites the laid down procedures ensuring compliance to such procedures must be
specially addressed by the laboratory. NABL will review such requirements for
adequacy and compliance on case-to-case basis.

4.7 Testing Procedures

Observations of flow meter reading and corresponding testing measurements should

be taken at same time and adequate means must be available for this.

A preliminary series of checks should be made to ensure that the flow meter used for
testing is functioning properly before testing is commenced.

The order of sequence of test points must not introduce a bias into the test curve. This
can be avoided by taking suitable number of observations in ascending followed by
descending sequences and finally checking a few points scattered over the flow range.

4.8 Laboratory Records/ Test Reports

Full reports of each test must be kept, inclusive of all readings taken directly from
measuring equipment, computed results and other analytical data.

A record system/ test report preparation should, at least cover the information/
requirements as given in ISO/ IEC 17025: 2005.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 9/10
5 Groups of Fluid Flow testing

Air & Gases

- Air velocity devices (Anemometers & Pitot tubes)
- Flow metering devices in pipelines
- Flow rate controlling valves
- Flow rate measuring meters
- Leak rate of gases
- Others

Liquids
- Flow metering devices in pipelines
- Flow rate controlling valves
- Flow rate measurement of corrosive liquids
- Flow rate measuring meters
- Leak rate of liquids
- Pumps & turbines

- Others

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories

Doc. No: NABL 106 Specific Criteria for Fluid Flow Testing Laboratories
Issue No: 03 Issue Date: 25-Apr-2016 Amend No: 00 Amend Date: -- Page No: 10/10
National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)
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