University of Benghazi

Faculty of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Fluid Mechanics Lab (CE327)

Test 6 – Flow through Sharp Edged Orifice

Date of test | 18/9/2012

Teacher | Hassan Gebrel

‫ ميالد عادل حويو‬: ‫| االس ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــم‬

3 : ‫| املج ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــموع ــة‬
17935 : ‫| الرقم الدراسي‬
Flow through Sharp Edged Orifice

1) Aim :
The purpose of this experiment is to:
A) Study the path of water jets issuing from orifices.
B) To determine the coefficients of discharge, velocity and
contraction from a sharp-edged circular orifice.
C) To study the variation and dependence of the relevant
parameters.

2) Introduction :
A well-defined opening in a plate or bulkhead, the top of which
is placed well below the upstream water level, is classified here as
an orifice; (figure 1 shows different types of orifice).
Circular sharp-edged orifice:
A circular sharp-edged orifice is an opening in a (metal) plate or
bulkhead, which is placed perpendicular to the sides and bottom
of a straight approach channel.
For true orifice flow to occur, the upstream water level must
always be well above the top of the opening, such that vortex-
flow with air entrainment is not evident.
If the upstream water level drops below the top of the opening,
it no longer performs as an orifice but as a weir.
The orifice is one of the older devices used for measuring water
and formerly it was set up to discharge freely into the air,
resulting in a considerable loss of head.
In practice, circular sharp-edged orifices are fully contracted so
that the bed and sides of the approach channel and the free water
surface should be sufficiently remote from the control section to
have no influence on the contraction of the discharging jet.

Figure 1 | Orifice Types

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 3) Theoretical basis :

The coefficient of discharge Cd is the ratio of the actual discharge

Qact to the theoretical discharge Qth.
The theoretical discharge is given by the following relationship
where A is the area of the orifice and H is the total head on the
orifice centerline and the actual discharge can be measured.
Qth = A √ 2 gH
Qa
C d= <1.0
Q th
1) Constant Head :
A) Determination of (C v):
The patch of the jet from the orifice is given by the following
equation where x is the horizontal distance , y is the vertical
distance and v is the flow velocity from the orifice.
x=v act t
1 2
y= g t
2
1 x
y= g 2
2 v act
2
1 x
y= g 2
2 c v × 2 gh

x
cv=
2( √ yh)
Figure 2 | Sharp Edge Orifice

B) Determination of (C d) for constant head:

Qact =C d A o V o
Qact =C d √ 2 gh

Qact
C d=
√ 2 gh

2) Falling head :
Determination of (C d):

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 Qact =C d A o √ 2 gh (1)
V = A tank h
dv dh
Q= = Atank (2)
dt dt
dh
Atank =C d A o √ 2 gh
dt
h1
C A √2 g
−1 t

∫ h = d A o ∫ dt
2

h2
tank 0

[2 h ]
1 h1
2 C d Ao t √ 2 g
h2 =
2 Atank

2 A tank
C d= ( √ h1 − √ h 2 )
tA o √ 2 g
4) Apparatus :
1) Hydraulics Bench (Figure 3).
2) Orifice Plate Apparatus (Figure 4,5).
3) Stopwatch.
4) Flask.
5) Pump.

Figure 3 | Hydraulics Bench Figure 4 | Orifice Plate apparatus

Figure 5 | Orifice
5) Procedure : Plate apparatus 2

1) Make sure that the Hydraulic Bench is leveled.

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 2) Turn on the pump of the hydraulic bench and allow water
into the constant head tank to build up above the orifice.
Wait until steady condition is achieved.
3) You can control the level of the water into the constant
head tank by pulling up and down the adjustable stainless
steel overflow pipe.
4) Measure the head (H) above the orifice
using the graduated scale.
5) By setting the thin pins so that they just
touch the issuing water jet, draw the
path of the water jet on the given graph
paper (figure 6). Figure 6 | Orifice Plate apparatus 2

6) Measure and record the initial and final volumes and the
time of accumulation for each reading of head (H).
7) Repeat the previous steps for at least two more different
heads (H) by changing the position of the adjustable
stainless steel overflow pipe.
8) Move the stainless steel overflow pipe at a high point to
have a falling head test.
9) Start from a reference point (h1) and calculate the time
required to reach the other points (h2 ).

6) Readings & Calculations:

1) Constant head (Calculating C v ):

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 Table 1 | Run 1
h(cm) x (cm) y (cm) Cv x 2 /h
5 0 - 0.62
10 0.6 1.02 2.5
40 15 1.5 0.96 5.62
20 2.5 1 10
25 4.1 0.97 15.62

18
16
14 f(x) = 3.72080326623623 x + 0.400802316748956
X²/h (m)

12
10
8
6
4
2
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
y (m)

Graph 1 | Run 1 - x 2 /h vs y

Table 2 | Run 2
h(cm) x (cm) y (cm) Cv 2
x /h
5 0.7 0.51 0.71
10 0.7 1.01 2.86
35 15 1.8 0.94 6.43
20 3.2 0.94 11.43
25 4.7 0.97 17.86

20.00
18.00
f(x) = 3.97691827822833 x − 0.971615720524028
16.00
14.00
X²/h (m)

12.00
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5
y (m)

Graph 2 | Run 2 - x 2 /h vs y

Table 3 | Run 3
h(cm) x (cm) y (cm) Cv 2
x /h

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 5 0.2 1.02 0.83
10 0.9 0.96 3.33
30 15 2.1 0.94 7.50
20 3.6 0.96 13.33
25 5.9 0.94 20.83

25.00

20.00
f(x) = 3.53440528917131 x + 0.189277232171516
X²/h (m)

15.00

10.00

5.00

0.00
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
y (m)

Graph 3 | Run 3 - x 2 /h vs y

Calculating C d :

Table 4 | Calculating C d
Run h( m) Q(m3 / s ) A(m2 ) Cd Q2 (m6 /s 2)
0.669
1 0.4 0.000053 2.81 × 10-9
1
0.742
2 0.35 0.000055 2.8 × 10-5 3.02 × 10-9
3
0.783
3 0.3 0.000054 3.88 × 10-9
5

0.0000000035
0.000000003
f(x) = 8.06639900662251E-09 x + 4.22239238410599E-11
Q² (m6/s²)

0.0000000025
0.000000002
0.0000000015
0.000000001
5E-10
0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
h (m)

Graph 4 | Q 2 vs h

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 2) Falling head (Calculating C d)

Table 5 | Calculating C d – Falling head

1 1
h1 (m) h2 ( m) t (sec) Atank Ao Cd
√ h1 (m 2 ) √ h2 (m 2 )
0.4 0.632 0 -
0.35 0.592 15 0.641
0.4 0.632 0.0147 2.83 × 10-5
0.3 0.548 32 0.623
0.25 0.500 50 0.623

60
50
f(x) = − 378.533371299717 x + 239.236709783634
40
t (sec)

30
20
10
0
0.450 0.500 0.550 0.600 0.650

√h² (m)

Graph 5 | √ h2 vs t

A) Constant Head Calculations :

Table 6 | Constant head (C v calculation)
Run Average C v C v Slop
1 0.99 0.964
2 0.97 0.997
3 0.95 0.940

Table 7 | Constant head (C d calculation)

Run Cd C d Slop
1 0.669
2 0.742 0.714
3 0.783

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 B) Falling Head Calculations :
Table 8 | Constant head (C d calculation)
Cd Cd C d (From “‫الجزء املقطوع من محور‬
Average Slop ‫)”الصادات‬
0.629 0.613 0.628

Calculating error %:
Take the reference value of (Cv=0.94 , Cd=0.63) and calculating
the minimum error%.

Table 9 | Error%
Constant Head
Variable Average Graph
Cv 1.06% 0.01%
Cd 6.19% 13.3%
Falling Head
Variable Average Graph
Cd 0.15% 0.3%

A) Discussion :
1) A very interesting result has been obtained during this test;
unlike most of the labs we’ve taken, this one is much accurate
due to the simple equipment used and the minimum amount
of error sources.
2) We’ve calculated a value for (Cv ) and (Cd ¿ with error percentage
of (1.06% and 6.19%) respectively from average value.
3) The value of (Cv ) and (Cd ¿ is very important in practice to
calculate the Flow Rate (Q (.

B) Conclusion:
In this test we’ve determinate the coefficients (Cd∧Cv ) for a
sharp edged orifice.

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 C) References :
- Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Manual - (ANNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY -
COIMBATORE).
- Fluid Mechanics 4th edition - F. White

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