Abstract

INIGUEZ-COVARRUBIAS, Mauro et al. Comparison of Venturi Tube-Meter Experimental Data with Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations. Tecnol. cienc. agua [online]. 2015, vol.6, n.4, pp.141-152. ISSN 2007-2422.

Irrigation systems require defining the total energy line of the water flow in order to prevent variations in pressure and flow at delivery and control points. Special equipment are installed at these points, including Venturi gauges. These devices have not been widely studied in terms of sizes, shapes, materials or functioning conditions, and the operating recommendations are derived from experimentally obtained characteristics. Thus, modeling their functioning with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations would be practical, economical and reliable. The objective of this work was to validate the CFD simulation of the functioning of a Venturi device based on laboratory observations. The comparison of the experimental results and those obtained with the CFD were highly satisfactory for the mean velocity (1.53 m s^-1), flow (0.027 m³ s^-1) and pressure in the differential manometer (15 cm de Hg). After the model was validated, 8 operating scenarios were simulated with variations in flow from 0.005 m³ s^-1 to 0.040 m³ s^-1 which simplified the modeling of the head loss flow rate relationship of the Venturi, with a quadratic equation, thereby eliminating the uncertainty related to the discharge coefficient required by the experimental analysis. The characteristic values of the device were a minimum hydraulic head of 0.4 kg cm^-2 at the contraction of the Venturi and a total pressure loss of 0.075 kg cm^-2 in the Venturi for a Q_max of 0.040 m³ s^-1. Lastly, the design of Venturi devices using CFD is recommended to obtain reliable information for its installation in irrigation systems.

Keywords : Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD); venturimeters; irrigation systems.

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