CFD analysis of the ultrasonic gas meter channel

Abstract

This paper describes a process of numerical testing and optimization of the ultrasonic gas meter channel. A conventional ultrasonic flowmeter requires a large installation space due to the quality and stability of the velocity profile. Previously, the shape of the inner gas meter channel was optimized to reach a suitable flow field for ultrasonic measurement. The goal of this work is to find an optimal design of reduced size gas meter to achieve a stable velocity profile with minimum disturbances regardless of the entry conditions in the smallest possible space. Flow characteristics for volume flow rate in the range (1 to 250) m3/h were tested and the parameters of the gas meter were adjusted. Obtained results show good match with the requirements. Future work should aim to the measurement of transit time and the stability of measured values on the optimized design. Finally, it will enable to create the analogy between numerically obtained velocity fields and real transit time measurement.