Abstract
In process industries Coriolis mass flow meters (CMFs) are widely employed for measuring mass flows. Quite often, especially in the oil and gas (O&G) industry, owing to fluids with high viscosities, flow measurements may lie in low Reynolds number regions. At low Reynolds numbers (Re), a CMF reading may deviate under the influence of fluid-dynamic forces. With the help of extensive Fluid-Structure-Interaction simulations (FSI), a detailed insight into physical mechanisms leading to this deviation is provided. The main finding is that this deviation is a function of the Reynolds number and the effect can be explained by a periodic shear mechanism which interacts with the oscillatory Coriolis force and reduces the tube deflection. Experimental results with and without a correction for this effect are shown and compared with corresponding numerical results. If the low Reynolds number effect were ignored, it would lead to errors as large as 0.5% to 1% at Re = 800, however by measuring the Re and making corrections, the effect is reduced to < 0.2%.
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Kumar, V., Anklin, M. Numerical simulations of Coriolis flow meters for low Reynolds number flows. MAPAN 26, 225–235 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12647-011-0021-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12647-011-0021-6