Numerical Simulation of Multi-path Ultrasonic Flowmeter: Ultrasonic Path Error Analysis

The precision of ultrasonic flowmeter is mainly depending on ultrasonic path adaptability for velocity profile of pipe, especially for the special cases, such as ultrasonic flowmeter located near the elbow of pipe. In this paper, the flow fields of some typical pipes were numerically calculated with commercial CFD software, and the velocity profiles in different section of pipe were investigated. Based on the simulated velocity profile, flow rate in special section of the double bend pipe was measured using different ultrasonic path configuration methods, such as Gaussian-path, Jacobianpath and diametral-path. According to the error of the measured flow rate, it is easy to get the optimal layout of ultrasonic path for the particular velocity profile. It is proved that the numerical simulation of flow field is useful for the optimization of the ultrasonic paths of flowmeter.