Measurement of Fluid Flow with Different Velocity Profiles by New Built Ultrasonic Flowmeter

Abstract

The paper describes the development of a non-invasive flowmeter for lower flow rates and its first tests. This gauge is physically based on the interaction of fluid flow with an ultrasonic signal that passes through the fluid from the transmitter to the receiver. Ultrasonic flowmeters are currently relatively commonly used gauges, whose advantages such as non-invasiveness (i.e. zero pressure losses) and the ability to seamlessly measure the flow rates of any (for example opaque) liquids, without contact with the liquid, are widely known. However, there are still parts of the ultrasonic flowmeter measurement chain that are undergoing research and development. It can be signal processing itself (mainly), its design solution, measurement for different flow cases (measurement in a flow field with a uniform velocity profile, in a flow field with an axisymmetric velocity profile, in a flow field with a general velocity profile), validation of the applied signal processing approaches, evaluation of uncertainties. The flowmeter itself, which development is described in the paper, will be used for trouble-free measurement in air engineering, but also serves as a training device for building a more complex ultrasonic gauge. Therefore, this flowmeter contains more signal transmitters and receivers than it is usual and all transmitter-receiver combinations are captured during the measurement. This gauge is called ultrasonic tomograph and its principle is also outlined in the paper. Here, so far, without a reconstructed vector field.

Keywords

• experimental methods
• mechanics of fluids
• ultrasonic flowmeter
• ultrasonic tomograph