NUMERICAL TEST RIG FOR TURBINE GAS METER

Toralf Hoch, Ernst von Lavante

Abstract

Generally, the determination of the performance and quality of volumetric flow meters is being carried out using so called error curves. They are the result of experiments performed on test rigs for different design variations and operating conditions. In order to augment this development process for flow meter to reduce costs in terms of money and time, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software has been applied as the so called "Numerical Test Rig". This "Numerical Test Rig" includes a full three-dimensional flow simulation of a realistic meter configuration. Close attention was paid to correct reproduction of the meter features, requiring simulation of the complete geometry with flow straightener, rotor and the downstream domain, all within a 360° circumference. A new algorithm to determine the error curves was developed based on the detailed consideration of inflow and outflow velocities. Equally, the realistic computation of the bearing friction forces and moments was implemented. Simulations of several test cases produced resulting error curves that compared favourably with curves measured for real meters.

Keywords

turbine gas meter, numerical simulation, test rig

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IMEKO-WC-2009-TC9-234.pdf

DOI

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IMEKO TC

TC9 - Flow Measurement

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