Intelligent and mass vortex flowmeters
- Yokagawa Italia, Milan (Italy)
In nature, Karman vortices are quite common. For instance, they happen when an airstream flows past a mountain, house, pole, tower, or skyscraper, or, more simply, when it blows among branches of a tree. The typical spiral shape of these swirls is invisible because there is no tracing element, such as the clouds in the satellite photo. Also, the observation point is rarely above or below the plane of these classic spiral shapes. Or you can watch the alternating whirlpool train that a river or stream makes behind bridge piers. Regular Karman vortices form downstream of a bluff body along two distinct wakes: the vortices of one wake rotate clockwise, those of the other rotate counterclockwise. Close to the bluff body, the wake distance is always constant and depends on bluff body shape and dimensions. The distance between two adjacent vortices is also constant and independent of fluid parameters such as velocity, pressure, density, and temperature. Vortices interact with their surrounding space by stimulating or choking every other nearby swirl on the verge of birth and development. Two Karman vortices cannot be generated simultaneously, but only one at a time, alternately on the left and right side of the bluff body. The process works just like a fluidic flip-flop. This natural phenomenon can be created artificially by placing a trapezoidal, or similarly symmetrical, bar across the diameter of a pipe section. Parallelism of the internal walls of the pipe and the corners of the trapezoidal bar ensure stability of the separation point of the boundary layer. Consequently, the separation point of each vortex with respect to the bar remains stable and the vortex train is regular. If the fluid speed doubles, creation of swirls doubles while the small volume encompassed by each vortex remains constant. So, by counting the number of swirls passing a fixed point during a defined time interval, one can compute the total passed fluid volume. 3 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 482569
- Journal Information:
- InTech, Vol. 43, Issue 2; Other Information: PBD: Feb 1996
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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