J. S.

Allen 1

Determining the mass flow rate of steam through an orifice.

The layout of a typical orifice plate is shown

in Figure 1 where D is the inside diameter of Flange Taps
the pipe and Do is the diameter of the orifice. 1 in 1 in
The pressure taps may be placed in several lo-
cations as shown above, but the location of the
pressure tap will influence the empirically de-
termined flow coefficient. The values of the Flow DO D
flow coefficient must be consistent with the lo- Corner Taps
cation of the pressure taps.
The base flow may be described by using the
laws of conservation of mass and momentum. D D/2
From the conservation of mass we get that the D and D/2 Taps
mass flow through the pipe will equal the mass
flow through the orifice: Figure 1: Orifice plate and locations of various pres-
sure taps.
ρV A = ρo Vo Ao ; (1)

where ρ is the fluid density, V is the average velocity at a particular location, A is the cross-sectional area,
and the subscript O denotes parameters at the orifice. The conservation of momentum may be reduced using
a number of assumptions to the Bernoulli equation:
1 1
P + ρV 2 = Po + ρo Vo2 . (2)
2 2

The density of the fluid is assumed to change very little in the portion of the tube of interest. This
assumption works well for liquids, but you must be careful when using vapor.
In order to express the pressure drop across the orifice in terms of the velocity and fluid density, the
conservation of momentum equation (2) is rearranged.
"  2 #
ρ 2 2

ρVo2 V
P − Po = V −V = 1− (3)
2 o 2 Vo

From conservation of mass, equation (1), the ratio of the velocities is inversely proportional to the cross-
sectional area ratio,
V Ao
= . (4)
Vo A
Substituting equation (4) into equation (3) and solving for the velocity results in the following expression:
v
u 2 (P − P )
o
Vo = t h
i . (5)
u
Ao 2
ρ 1− A

The mass flow rate, ρV A, is:

Ao p
ṁideal = q
2 2ρ (P − Po ) . (6)
Ao
1− A

Equation (6) is the theoretical flow rate for an incompressible fluid without any viscous losses. Flow through
an orifice plate has significant flow losses. The nature of these losses must be accounted for in order to
accurately measure the mass flow rate using the pressure drop across an orifice. To do this a discharge
coefficient, C, is defined such that
actual mass flow rate
C≡ . (7)
ideal mass flow rate
J. S. Allen 2

Therefore, the actual mass flow rate can be expressed as

CAo p
ṁactual = q 2ρ (P − Po ) , (8)
Ao 2


1− A

where C is determined empirically for each type of system.

For ease of expression, a new parameter ratio is defined as
Do
β≡ . (9)
D
This parameter allows the ratio of the cross-sectional areas to be expressed as
 2  4
Ao Do
= = β4 .
A D
Another parameter is defined as the velocity of approach factor, K, and is defined as
C
K≡p . (10)
1 − β4

Now, the actual mass flow rate may be expressed as

p
ṁactual = KAo 2ρ (P − Po ) . (11)

The discharge coefficient, C, and the velocity of approach factor, K, are determined empirically using
the orifice diameter, pipe diameter, and the Reynolds number. The Reynolds number is a dimensionless
parameter used to classify the flow and is defined as
ρDV
Re ≡ , (12)
µ
where µ is the absolute viscosity of the fluid. A correlation for a concentric orifice plate using corner taps
(see Figure 1) is
91.71β 2.5
C = 0.5959 + 0.0312β 2.1 − 0.184β 8 + . (13)
Re0.75
The correlation1 expressed in equation (13) is accurate within ±0.6% for the following ranges

0.2 < β < 0.75 and 104 < Re < 107 .

The values of C are relatively insensitive to the Reynolds number for values of Re above 105 when β > 0.5.
Similarly, correlations are available for orifice plates using D pressure taps or D/2 pressure taps. When flange
taps are used, a different correlation is required for each pipe diameter. The orifice plate calibration should
provide a similar correlation, but care should be taken to ensure that the measured parameters (pressure and
temperature) fall within the specified ranges for the correlation. A correlation can never be extrapolated
beyond the specified parameter ranges. If the Reynolds number, pipe size, or orifice diameter are outside
the specified ranges of the correlation, the coefficients (K or C) should be experimentally determined.
Flow With A Quality Less Than 1
The quality, x, defines the relative ratio of liquid to vapor in a mixed state. A quality of 1 indicates
saturated vapor, sometimes referred to as dry steam. A quality of 0 indicates that the fluid is saturated
liquid. The following guidelines may help in determining the state of fluid passing through the orifice:
When the quality is between 0 and 1, or when both liquid and vapor are flowing at near equilibrium condi-
tions, it is not possible to determine the quality based soley upon a pressure and temperature measurement
1 This correlation is taken from page 395 of Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, 3rd edition, by Robert Fox and Alan McDonald,

published by John Wiley and Sons, 1985.

J. S. Allen 3

Table 1: Fluid state when not at equilibrium conditions.

saturation measured by temperature saturation measured by pressure

measured pressure state measured temperature state
P < Psat superheated vapor T > Tsat superheated vapor
P > Psat subcooled liquid T < Tsat subcooled liquid

upstream. Two state measurements (pressure and temperature) are required to determine the state of a
single phase. For two phase mixtures, three state measurements are required; the additional measurement
generally being quality or volume. Another option is to make additional measurements of pressure and
temperature after the fluid undergoes some type of quasi-equilibrium process. A common example of this is
using a throttling calorimeter on the pipe where some of the fluid is drawn off through a constant enthalpy
process.
Unfortunately, an orifice plate is not a quasi-equilibrium process nor is it a constant enthalpy process. The
enthalpy may be the same before and after the orifice, but the path between these two states of enthalpy
is anything but a straight line. There are significant flow losses. At best, if the quality of the fluid is
suspected to be between 0 and 1, then the flow rate can be bounded by the saturated vapor conditions and
the saturated liquid conditions. Be sure to check the Reynolds number for each state (liquid and vapor) to
make sure that the correlation used is still valid.