Study of Transducer Installation Effects on Ultrasonic Flow Metering Using Computational Fluid Dynamics

In ultrasonic flow metering, the inner pipe wall will be distorted by transducer’s installation, and the velocity profile of the meter will be different from that in a long straight pipe located in front of or behind the meter section. Changes in profile will finally influence the flow measurement accuracy. This paper shows a multi-path ultrasonic flow meter with its transducers installed at different positions. Our purpose is to find the best transducer installation position and to study the influence of path numbers and pipe diameters on the flow measurement accuracy at the best installation position. With a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, velocity profiles are calculated. Negative bias errors are obtained at all the three of the common installation positions. Similar phenomenon has also been observed in a real field experiment. The reasons for the negative bias error have also been analyzed.