Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol.79, No.1, 100-106, 2001
A new pressure drop model for flow-through orifice plates
This study was carried out to seek a suitable model to describe flow through orifices. The model of developing flow through short ducts was found to be adequate. There were two free parameters in the model equation involving the normalized pressure drop and Reynolds number. Experiments were performed using two Plexiglas tanks separated by an orifice. The liquid level height variation with time was recorded. A unique parametric estimation technique was used to determine the two free parameters from the dynamic liquid level data. It was found that direct use of the experimental data (liquid level heights) is the best option in correlating the experimental data with the model. The correlation fits well with the present and literature experimental data quite well. It was found that the variation of the pressure drop with the flow rate is linear when the flow is weak, where the orifice Reynolds number is less 10. When the flow is strong, the ratio of the pressure drop to the flow rate becomes linearly related to the flow rate. These two limits are identical to those for flow in porous media.