Bibliografia

Shaaban S. On the performance of perforated plate with optimized hole

geometry [Periódico]. - Cairo : Elsevier Ltd., 2015. - Flow Measure mentand
Instrumentation : Vols. 46 pp. 44-56.
Sobre o Artigo

Abstract: Faz uma excelente

 O presente estudo visa minimizar a perda de pressão permanente das correlação entre perda
chapas perfuradas, otimizando a geometria do furo.
de pressão e coeficiente
 Essa geometria foi investigada numericamente e otimizada resolvendo a
Equação de Reynolds Averaged Navier- Stocks (RANS) em diferentes de descarga com a
geometrias de furos.
geometria da placa. A
Introdução geometria proposta é
 Kolodzie e Van Winkle [11] investigaram experimentalmente as variáveis
de projeto que afetam a queda de pressão em placas perfuradas secas. muito difícil de aplicar
Eles estabeleceram uma correlação para estimar a queda de pressão de
placas perfuradas em função do diâmetro do furo, passo do furo, sem máquinas de
espessura da placa, fração da placa coberta pela área perfurada e um
precisão por formar um
índice de Reynold número baseado no diâmetro do furo.
 Weber et ai. [14] investigaram experimentalmente a perda de pressão ângulo na parte interna
características de placas perfuradas com diferentes geometrias. relatou
que o efeito do número de Reynolds na pressão perda não foi dos furos . Mas os artigos
significativa para a maioria das geometrias testadas dentro do intervalo
testado do número de Reynolds, Re=1941–33.204. que foram usados como
 Zhaoetal. [18] investigaram experimentalmente o desempenho de placas
referencia trazem outros
perfuradas com diferentes geometrias. Eles também desenvolveram
correlações para prever a perda de pressão e coeficiente de descarga de pontos de estudo sobre a
placas perfuradas como função da placa geometria.
 Huangetal. [17] relataram que os parâmetros como diâmetro, espessura geometria e dados
da placa, porosidade da placa e distribuição afetam o desempenho de
experimentais .
placas perfuradas. esses parâmetros não tem um efeito monotônico,
mas complexo desempenho das placas perfuradas.
 Liu e Ting [22] investigaram experimentalmente a turbulência fluxo a
jusante de placas perfuradas com bordas afiadas aberturas e aberturas
retas de espessura finita. a placa perfurada perfurada produz um maior
nível de turbulência devido à separação de fluxo bem definida de sua
ponta afiada aberturas
Principais referências:

[11] P.A.Kolodzie,M.VanWinkle,Discharge coefficients through perforated plates, AIChE J.3(1957)305–

312.

[12] P.L.Smith,M.VanWinkle,Discharge coefficients through perforated plates, AIChE J.4(1958)266–268.

[14] L.J. Weber, M.P. Cherian, M.E. Allen, M. Muste, Headloss Characteristics for Perforated Plates and
Flat Bar Screens (Technical Report No. 411), Iowa In- stitute of Hydraulic Engineering, College of
Engineering, University of Iowa, Iowa City (IA), USA, 2000.

[17]S.F.Huang,T.Y.Ma,D.Wang,Discharge coefficient Analysis of perforated or- ifice plates,in: Proceedings

of the 19th International Conferenceon Nuclear Engineering (ICONE19),Chiba,Japan,2011,Paper-43330.

[18] T.Zhao,J.Zhang,L.Ma,Ageneral structural design methodology formulti- hole orifices and its
experimental application,J.Mech.Sci.Technol.25(9) (2011)2237–2246.

[20] S.F.Huang,T.Y.Ma,D.Wang,Z.Lin,Study on discharge coefficient of perfo- rated or ifices as a new kind

of flow meter,Exp.Therm.FluidSci.46(2013) 74–83.

[22] R. Liu,D.S.K.Ting,Turbulent flow downstreamofaperforatedplate:sharp edged orifice versus finite-

thicknessholes,ASMEJ.FluidsEng.129(9)(2007) 1164–1171.

2. Objetivo do presente trabalho

 O presente trabalho de pesquisa propõe uma placa perfurada com geometria de furo
convergente-divergente em vez da constante geometria do furo do medidor.

Conclusão

 A geometria otimizada proposta reduz o tempo perda de pressão da placa perfurada por 51,7%
em Re=3,5x104. o coeficiente de descarga da placa perfurada otimizada varia de 0,986 em
Re=1x104 a 0,997 em Rex3,5x104. Além disso, theop- buracogeometria temporizada atrasa o
início da cavitação melhorando o número de cavitação em 57,2–70,6%.
 A proposta de placa perfurada com geometria otimizada mostra características inerentes em
comparação com outro tipo de diferencial medidores de vazão. É pequeno, simples em design e
fabricação, não tem partes móveis e é menos sensível ao fluxo de entrada torção em comparação
com placas de orifício padrão. coeficiente de descarga superior ao do bocal de fluxo e comparável
ao do venturímetro. mais da metade da placa perfurada original. de cavitação em 57,2–70,6% em
comparação com o original perfurado prato.
 Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Flow Measurement and Instrumentation

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/flowmeasinst

On the performance of perforated plate with optimized hole geometry

S. Shaaban
Mechanical Engineering Department, College of Engineering and Technology-Cairo Campus, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport
(AASTMT), Egypt

art ic l e i nf o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Perforated plates have many advantages compared to other differential type flow meters. Their per-
Received 5 June 2015 manent pressure loss could be lower than that of the standard orifice plates but significantly higher than
Received in revised form that of the flow nozzles and the venturi meters. This high permanent pressure loss increases the energy
10 August 2015
consumption and hence the cost of flow metering. Therefore, the present study aims at minimizing the
Accepted 24 August 2015
permanent pressure loss of perforated plates by optimizing their hole geometry. A convergent–divergent
Available online 28 August 2015
hole geometry is proposed for use with perforated plates. This geometry was numerically investigated
Keywords: and optimized by solving the Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stocks Equation (RANS) at different hole geo-
Perforated plate metries. Numerical results show that the optimized convergent–divergent hole geometry reduces the
Flow meter
permanent pressure loss by 51.7% at Reynolds number Re¼3.5  104. The discharge coefficient of the
Losses
optimized perforated plate is higher than that of the flow nozzle and comparable to that of the venturi
Discharge coefficient
CFD meter. Moreover, a significant improvement of the cavitation number was recorded for the perforated
plate with optimized convergent–divergent hole geometry.
& 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

1. Introduction
Flow rate measurement is one of the most important processes
that takes place in many laboratories and industrial facilities. The
main objective of any flow meter is to measure the flow rate ac-
curately and with a minimum loss of energy due to flow metering.
Reliability and availability of flow meter are also two important
features for any industrial facility. Therefore, differential type flow
meters are still attractive in many industrial applications. The
small size, simple design, absence of moving parts and low cost of
orifice plates make them the most commonly used differential
type flow meters. However, orifice plates increase the energy
consumption and hence the pumping cost due to their high per-
manent pressure loss. Moreover, they are non-linear and sensitive
to incoming flow distortions. Authors have proposed different
designs to overcome the known orifice plate disadvantages.
Ouazzane and Barigou [1] investigated the effect of flow condi-
tioners upstream the standard orifice plate and showed that they
can considerably reduce the installation length. Beck and Mazille
[2] introduced a swirler upstream an orifice plate to make its
performance insensitive to inlet flow conditions. Manshoor et al.
[3] showed that fractal flow conditioner causes orifice plates to be
broadly insensitive to upstream flow disturbances. Shaaban [4]
introduced a method to reduce the pressure loss of orifice plates
E-mail address: sameh.shaaban@aast.edu
by placing a ring downstream the orifice. This method can save up
to 33.5% of the orifice plate pressure loss. However, the orifice loss
coefficient still clearly higher than that of the flow nozzle and the
venturi meter after applying the downstream ring.
Slotted-plate, fractal-plate and perforated plate are differential
type flow meters that aim at overcoming the disadvantages of
standard orifice plates while maintaining their advantages (i.e.;
small size, inexpensive, no moving parts and simplicity of design
and manufacturing). They are less sensitive to inlet flow distor-
tions and have more stable discharge coefficient, wider application
range and lower permanent pressure loss and critical Reynolds
number compared to the standard orifice plates. Morrison et al.
[5,6] introduced the slotted plates and showed that they have
lower head loss compared to the standard orifice plates. Morrison
et al. [7], Geng et al. [8], Yuxing et al. [9] and Kumar et al. [10]
investigated the application of slotted plates in measuring the flow
rate of wet gases. They showed that there is no accumulation of
water upstream and downstream the slotted plate and a low area
ratio is recommended for measuring the flow of wet gases.
Perforated plates are similar in concept to the slotted plates but
with holes in lieu of the slots. Kolodzie and Van Winkle [11] ex-
perimentally investigated the design variables that affect the
pressure drop across dry perforated plates. They established a
correlation to estimate the pressure drop of perforated plates as a
function of the hole diameter, hole pitch, plate thickness, fraction
of the plate covered by the perforated area, and a Reynolds

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.flowmeasinst.2015.08.012
0955-5986/& 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50
Nomenclature
A pipe cross sectional area (m2)
A0 hole cross sectional area (m2)
Ah total cross sectional area of the holes (m2)
CD discharge coefficient (–)
D pipe diameter (m)
di hole circle diameter (m)
d0 hole diameter (m)
Ed exergy destruction (J/kg)
K loss coefficient (–)
Kcav cavitation number (–)
ṁ mass flow rate (kg/s)
n number of holes (–)
Δp pressure difference (Pa)
Δploss pressure loss (Pa)
p static pressure (Pa)
Re pipe Reynolds number (–)
S entropy (kJ/kg K)
T temperature (K)
number based on the hole diameter. Smith and Van Winkle [12]
extended the correlation of Kolodzie and Van Winkle [11] down to
a Reynolds number of Re¼ 400. Gan and Riffat [13] numerically
and experimentally investigated the pressure loss characteristics
of square edged orifice and perforated plates. They found that at
an area ratio of 0.5, the pressure loss coefficient of a perforated
plate in a square duct is higher than that of an orifice plate. Weber
et al. [14] experimentally investigated the pressure loss char-
acteristics of perforated plates having different geometries. They
reported that the effect of Reynolds number Re on the pressure
loss was not significant for the majority of the tested geometries
within the tested range of Reynolds number, Re¼1941–33,204.
Ma et al. [15] experimentally investigated the discharge coef-
ficient, the head loss and anti-swirl performance of perforated
plates. They showed that the discharge coefficient of perforated
plate is more stable and less sensitive to upstream swirl compared
to the standard orifice plate. Moreover, the head loss of perforated
plate is close to that of the standard orifice plate. Huang et al.
[16,17] theoretically and experimentally investigated the perfor-
mance of perforated plates. They showed that perforated plates
have more stable discharge coefficient and broader application
ranges with smaller critical Reynolds number compared to the
standard orifice plate. Huang et al. [17] reported that parameters
such as hole diameter, plate thickness, plate porosity, and spatial
distribution affect the performance of perforated plates. Each of
these parameters has not monotonic but complex effect on per-
forated plates' performance. Zhao et al. [18] experimentally in-
vestigated the performance of perforated plates with different
geometries. They also developed correlations for predicting the
pressure loss and discharge coefficient of perforated plates as
function of the plate geometry. Malavasi et al. [19] tested several
plates with different geometrical characteristics. They showed that
the loss coefficient of the perforated plate is less than that of the
standard orifice plate. Huang et al. [20] theoretically and experi-
mentally investigated the performance of perforated plates with
different geometries. The experimental results showed that the
discharge coefficient of a perforated plate is 22.5–25.6% larger but
with a weaker scattering than that of the corresponding standard
orifice. They also indicated that perforated plates have lower cri-
tical Reynolds number and stronger anti-disturbance ability com-
pared to the standard orifice plate. Filho et al. [21] numerically
investigated the effect of chamfering on the pressure drop of
45
V pipe velocity (m/s)
Greek
α1 hole convergent angle (°)
α2 hole divergent angle (°)
β porisity (–)
ρ water density (kg/m3)
μ water viscosity (Pa s)
Subscript
1 at distance 1D upstream the perforated plate
2 at upstream surface of the perforated plate
3 at downstream surface of the perforated plate
4 at distance 6D downstream the perforated plate
5 at distance 10D downstream the perforated plate
0 ambient condition
perforated plates with thin orifices proposed for debris filtering
end pieces. For a thickness to diameter ratio close to 5, they stu-
died chamfering angles 90°, 60° and 30° either at one side of the
plate or at both sides of the plate. The numerical results showed
that the pressure loss decreases rapidly for small chamfers and
more slowly for larger chamfers. Filho et al. [21] concluded that
the lowest pressure drop can be achieved with different chamfers
at inlet and outlet.
Liu and Ting [22] experimentally investigated the turbulent
flow downstream perforated plates with sharp-edged orificed
openings and finite-thickness straight openings. They showed that
the orificed perforated plate produces a higher level of turbulence
due to the well-defined flow separation from its sharp edge
openings. Gronych et al. [23] experimentally investigated the use
of perforated plate to maintain the molecular flow at higher
pressure and high total conductance of the plate. They studied the
distance between holes and showed that at center-to-center dis-
tances shorter than approximately three times the diameter of the
hole, notable differences in the total conductance can be seen in
the pressure range where the transition from the molecular to
transitional flow regime occurs. Malavasi et al. [24] investigated
the incipient cavitation number of perforated plates. They showed
that lower area ratio results in a delayed onset of cavitation.
Chenzhen and Zhao [25] conducted two dimensional numerical
simulation of acoustically excited flow through perforated plates
with different geometrical shapes by using lattice Boltzmann
method. They found that the square-shaped hole is associated
with larger damping effect than that of a rounded one. Moreover,
the maximum sound absorption and the effective frequency
bandwidth strongly depend on the combination of the bias flow
Mach number and the plate thickness.
Authors have investigated many geometrical and operating
parameters of perforated plates as presented above. In these in-
vestigations, the hole diameter was constant across the plate
thickness. The present study proposes the implementation of
variable hole geometry across the plate thickness.
2. Aim of the present work
Perforated plates are simple in design and manufacturing and
less sensitive to inlet flow distortion compared to standard orifice
46 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50
Fig. 1. Perforated plate geometry.
plates. They have stable discharge coefficient, low critical Reynolds
number and no moving parts. Moreover, perforated plates with
lower area ratio can be used for measuring wet gases and they are
characterized by a delayed onset of cavitation while measuring the
liquid flow rate. However, perforated plates have higher perma-
nent pressure loss compared to flow nozzles and venturi meters.
Therefore, the present research aims at minimizing the pressure
loss of perforated plates by optimizing their hole geometry. Fig. 1
shows the original shape of the perforated plate. It consists of a
number of holes uniformly distributed across a plate. Each hole
has a constant diameter d0 and the number of holes n determines
the porosity ratio β
nA 0
β=
(1)
A
where A0 and A are the hole and pipe areas, respectively.
The present research work proposes a perforated plate with
convergent–divergent hole geometry in lieu of the constant dia-
meter hole geometry, Fig. 2. Numerical optimization was im-
plemented in order to optimize the hole geometry by optimizing
the convergent angle α1 and the divergent angle α2. In the pro-
posed geometry, d0 and A0 represents the throat diameter and the
throat area of the hole, respectively. In order to validate the nu-
merical model using available experimental data, the original
perforated plate geometry in the present study is identical to the
geometry of perforated plate number 7 in Huang et al. [20]. The
original perforated plate has 4 holes, a thickness t ¼3 mm and a
hole diameter d0 ¼ 5 mm. The holes are uniformly distributed on a
hole circle with diameter di ¼20 mm, Figs. 1 and 2. This perforated
plate was selected because it has a low porosity ratio (β ¼0.345)
and small number of holes. The low porosity ratio is re-
commended for measuring wet gases without water accumulation
Fig. 2. Perforated plate with convergent–divergent hole geometry.
and liquids with delayed onset of cavitation. The small number of
holes ensures simplicity of design and manufacturing.
The original perforated plate was tested by Huang et al. [20] in
a pipe having a diameter D¼ 29 mm using water as a working
fluid. The present study concerns with the operation of the per-
forated plate in the turbulent flow region. Therefore, the available
experimental results in the range of Reynolds number ReZ1  104
were used. The Reynolds number is based on the pipe diameter
ρVD
Re =
μ (2)
where ρ and μ are the density and viscosity of water and V is the
pipe velocity.
3. Numerical method
Numerical investigation using the CFD code “Fluent” was im-
plemented in the present work in order to optimize the hole
geometry of the perforated plate. The main objective of the opti-
mization is to minimize the permanent pressure loss and max-
imize the discharge coefficient of the perforated plate. Fig. 3 shows
a schematic of the implemented computational domain. The do-
main was extended 15 times the pipe diameter upstream and
downstream the perforated plate, respectively. The distance 15D
upstream the plate was used to ensure a fully developed flow at
perforated plate inlet during the numerical simulation.
A high quality mesh is essential for accurate simulation of the
flow through the perforated plate due to the small hole and pipe
diameters. Therefore, the mesh was constructed with a near wall
dimensionless distance y þ ¼ 1 and the enhanced wall treatment
was implemented during the simulation. Due to geometric sym-
metry, only one quarter of the perforated plate was meshed to
achieve a high quality mesh with reasonable mesh size, Fig. 3.
Moreover, multi-blocking technique with mesh interfaces was also
implemented. The boundary conditions of the two lateral sides of
the computational domain were defined as “symmetry”. Velocity
inlet and pressure outlet boundary conditions were applied at the
computational domain inlet and outlet, respectively. All other
surfaces of the computational domain were defined as walls. Dif-
ferent planes were defined upstream and downstream the perfo-
rated plate as shown in Fig. 3. Planes 1 and 5 are at distances 1D
and 10D upstream and downstream the perforated plate, respec-
tively. These planes were used to estimate the cavitation number,
Malavasi et al. [24]. Planes 2 and 3 are at the perforated plate
upstream and downstream surfaces. The pressure difference
across the original plate was estimated using planes 2 and 3,
Huang et al. [20]. Plane 4 is at distance 6D downstream the plate
and was used for estimating the perforated plate loss coefficient.
Fig. 3. Computational domain.
 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50 47

Numerical simulation was performed by solving the steady

state Reynolds averaged Navier–Stocks equation (RANS). The rea-
lizable k–ε model with enhanced wall treatment was used to
model turbulence and simulate the near wall flow. Discretization
was performed using the finite volume technique. The applied
discretization schemes are second order scheme for pressure,
SIMPLE scheme for pressure–velocity coupling and second order
upwind scheme for momentum, kinetic energy (k) and turbulence
dissipation rate (ε). The static pressure upstream and downstream
the perforated plate were monitored during the simulations.
Convergence was considered to be achieved when the residuals of
mass, momentum and turbulence are less than 1  10  4 and the
variations of upstream and downstream pressures (p2 and p3) are
less than 71 Pa.
Mesh size independence test was first performed at Re¼3  104
to ensure that the results obtained are independent of mesh size Fig. 5. Mesh around the original perforated plate.
and quality. The mesh size was gradually increased from 1,083,106
cells to 1,955,222 cells. Numerical simulation was performed at
each mesh size and the discharge coefficient was estimated for
water flow from the equation

ṁ 1 − β 4
CD =
Ah 2Δp⋅ρ (3)

where Ah is the total cross sectional area of the holes. The pressure
difference across the plate was estimated from
Δp = p2 − p3 (4)

The grid convergence index (GCI) and the asymptotic range

ratio were calculated using the equations presented in Roache
[26]. The asymptotic range ratio was found to be almost 1 which
indicates that the solution is in the asymptotic range. Fig. 4 pre-
sents the results of the mesh size independence test. With gra- Fig. 6. Mesh around the perforated plate with the proposed hole geometry.
dually increasing the mesh size from 1,083,106 cells to 1,955,222
cells (80.5% change in mesh size), the maximum variation of the
discharge coefficient was estimated as 71.9%. The Mesh with size
1,757,700 cells was implemented throughout the present work.
Fig. 5 shows the implemented structured mesh around the per-
forated plate.
Meshes with different hole geometries were also constructed
by varying the hole convergent angle α1 and divergent angle α2 as
shown in Fig. 6. The number of holes, the hole throat diameter d0
and hence the porosity ratio β were kept constant for all in-
vestigated hole geometries. Moreover, the hole circle diameter di
(Figs. 1 and 2) was the same for both the original and the proposed
perforated plates.
The original perforated plate was simulated at different values
of the Reynolds number and compared to the experimental results
of Huang et al. [20] in order to validate the numerical results. Fig. 7
shows comparison between the experimental and numerical re-
sults of the original perforated plate. Error analysis of the
Fig. 7. Comparison between experimental and numerical results of the original
perforated plate.

measured values using the data of Huang et al. [20] was also
performed and presented. A very good quantitative and qualitative
agreement between the numerical and the experimental results
can be observed in Fig. 7. Deviations of the numerical results from
the experimental results are within the experimental error. The
maximum deviation of the numerical results from the experi-
mental results is 73%.

4. Exergy analysis of the original perforated plate

Exergy analysis was performed for the original perforated plate

Fig. 4. Mesh size independence test. to discover the zones of highest exergy destruction. Optimization
48 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50

Fig. 8. Exergy destruction of the original perforated plate, Re¼ 3  104.

of these zones could significantly reduce the permanent pressure

loss of the perforated plate. The exergy destruction Ed was esti-
mated from
Ed = T0(s − s0) (5)

where T0 and s0 are the temperature and entropy at ambient

conditions and s is the local entropy.
Fig. 8 shows the exergy destruction of the original perforated
plate at Reynolds number Re¼ 3  104. The exergy destruction of
the present isothermal incompressible flow results from flow
losses (e.g., friction, accelerating and decelerating boundary layers,
eddies, etc.). High exergy destruction takes place inside the hole
due to the high shear stress associated with water acceleration.
The highest exergy destruction takes place at the outer radius of
the hole entrance. Moderate exergy destruction takes place
downstream the perforated plate due to the jets emerging from
the holes. It is concluded from Fig. 8 that the optimization of the
hole geometry could significantly reduce the permanent pressure
loss of perforated plates.
5. Optimization
The present research aims at minimizing the pressure loss of
perforated plates by optimizing the hole geometry. The pressure
loss coefficient K is defined as
Δploss
K=
0.5ρV 2
where V is the pipe velocity, ρ is the density and Δploss is the
pressure loss
Δploss = p2 − p4
where p2 and p4 are the static pressure at planes 2 and 4 (Fig. 3),
respectively. The hole geometry was varied by varying the con-
vergent angle α1 and the divergent angle α2 (Fig. 2). Structured
meshes similar to the one presented in Fig. 6 were generated at
different values of the angles α1 and α2. These meshes were nu-
merically solved using the same settings described in Section 3.
The convergent angle α1 was varied from 0° to 60° while the di-
vergent angle α2 was varied from 0° to 15° to avoid separation.
Fig. 9 shows the percentage change in perforated plate pressure
loss coefficient with varying the angles α1 and α2. The percentage
change in pressure loss coefficient is defined as
Kmodified − Koriginal
ΔK = × 100
Koriginal
Fig. 9. Effect of hole geometry on pressure loss coefficient, Re¼3  104.
divergent angle α2. This is because the highest exergy destruction
for the original perforated plate takes place at the hole entrance
region, Fig. 8. Therefore, optimizing this region significantly de-
creases the permanent pressure loss. The highest reduction of the
permanent pressure loss was obtained at a convergent angle
α1 ¼ 50°. Further increase of the angle α1 causes flow recirculation
at hole entrance with a consequent increase of the pressure losses.
Increasing the divergent angle α2 at constant convergent angle α1
reduces the pressure losses downstream the perforated plate by
decreasing the velocity of the jets emerging from the holes.
However, increasing the divergent angle α2 at high values of the
convergent angle α1 result in flow separation and subsequent in-
crease of the permanent pressure loss. To ensure separation free
operation of the optimized perforated plate, the optimum angles
are considered as α1 ¼50° and α2 ¼7°. These angles result in 50.6%
decrease of the original perforated plate loss coefficient at
Re¼ 3  104.
Fig. 10 presents the exergy destruction of the perforated plate
(6) after optimization. A significant decrease of the energy destruction
was achieved by optimizing the hole geometry compared to the
exergy destruction of the original plate (Fig. 8).
Fig. 11 presents the streamlines through the original and opti-
(7) mized perforated plates at Re ¼3  104. The jets emerging from the
hole cause recirculation downstream the perforated plate. The jets
emerging from the optimized perforated plate have lower velo-
cities compared to that of the original plate due to hole optimi-
zation. Therefore, the losses due to interaction between the
emerging jets and the downstream recirculating flow is lower for
the optimized perforated plate. Moreover, the turbulence intensity
downstream the plate was clearly reduced by optimizing the hole
geometry as shown in Fig. 12.
Fig. 13 presents the static pressure distribution for the original
and optimized perforated plates at Re¼3  104. The static pressure
(8)

where Koriginal and Kmodified are the pressure loss coefficients of the
original and modified perforated plates, respectively. Negative
percentage change of pressure loss coefficient ΔK means reduc-
tion of the permanent pressure losses.
Fig. 9 shows that the effect of the convergent angle α1 on the
pressure loss coefficient is more significant than that of the Fig. 10. Exergy destruction of the optimized perforated plate, Re¼3  104.
 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50 49

Fig. 14. Effect of Reynolds number on perforated plate loss coefficient.

upstream the original plate is significantly higher than that of the

4
optimized plate. Meanwhile, no significant change of the static
Fig. 11. Streamlines through the perforated plate, Re¼3  10 .
pressure downstream the optimized perforated plate compared to
the original one was recorded. This indicates that the pressure loss
is mainly due to the hole geometry. Therefore, significant decrease
of the pressure loss was achieved by optimizing the hole geo-
metry. The static pressure is significantly higher than the vapor
pressure at the investigated water temperature (pv ¼  99,007.4 Pa
at 20 °C). Therefore, cavitation is not likely to occur for both the
original and optimized perforated plates.
The optimized perforated plate was simulated at different va-
lues of the Reynolds number and compared to the original per-
forated plate as shown in Figs. 14 and 15. The loss coefficient of the
optimized perforated plate is significantly lower than that of the
original perforated plate at all investigated values of the Reynolds
number. The percentage decrease of the loss coefficient ranges
from 43.3% at Re¼1  104 to 51.7% at Re¼ 3.5  104. The significant
reduction of the loss coefficient result in significant increase of the
discharge coefficient. The discharge coefficient of the optimized
perforated plate varies from 0.986 at Re¼ 1  104 to 0.997 at
Re ¼3.5  104, Fig. 15. These values are well higher than those of
the flow nozzles and comparable to those of the venturi meters.
The effect of optimizing the hole geometry on the onset of
cavitation was also investigated by estimating the cavitation
Fig. 12. Turbulence intensity through the perforated plate, Re¼ 3  104.
number Kcav, Malavasi et al. [24]
p1 − pv
Kcav =
p1 − p5 (9)

Fig. 16 shows the variation of the cavitation number with

Fig. 13. Static pressure through the perforated plate, Re¼3  104.
Fig. 15. Effect of Reynolds number on perforated plate discharge coefficient.
50 S. Shaaban / Flow Measurement and Instrumentation 46 (2015) 44–50
Fig. 16. Effect of Reynolds number on perforated plate cavitation number.
Reynolds number for both the original and optimized perforated
plates. The significant decrease of the pressure losses through the
optimized perforated plate significantly increases the cavitation
number and hence delays the onset of cavitation. The improve-
ment of the cavitation number ranges from 70.6% at Re ¼1  104 to
57.2% at Re¼3.5  104.
6. Conclusions
Perforated plates have many advantages compared to the
standard orifice plates. However, their permanent pressure loss is
significantly higher than that of the flow nozzle and the venturi
meter. The high permanent pressure loss increases the energy
consumption and cost of flow metering. Therefore, the present
study aims at minimizing the permanent pressure loss of perfo-
rated plates by optimizing their hole geometry. A convergent–di-
vergent hole geometry was proposed and numerically optimized.
Numerical optimization was performed by solving the steady
state Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stocks Equation (RANS) under
different geometrical and operating conditions. The numerical
model was validate by comparing the numerical results of a per-
forated plate with uniform hole cross sectional area (original
perforated plate) to available experimental results. Exergy analysis
was performed for the original perforated plate. This analysis
shows that the highest exergy destruction takes place at the hole
entrance. Considerable exergy destruction also takes place
downstream the perforated plate because of the high velocity jets
emerging from the plate holes. Numerical results of the original
plate show that the major permanent pressure loss is due to the
hole geometry. Therefore, optimizing the hole geometry could
significantly improve the perforated plate performance.
The proposed convergent–divergent hole geometry was in-
vestigated at different convergent angles α1 and divergent angles
α2. Numerical results show that the permanent pressure loss of
the perforated plate is more sensitive to changes of the convergent
angle α1. This is because of the significant exergy destruction at
the hole entrance of the original plate. Variation of the divergent
angle α2 also affects the permanent pressure loss due to the jets
emerging from the plate holes. The convergent angle α1 was var-
ied from 0° to 60° while the divergent angle α2 was investigated in
the range 0–15° to avoid flow separation at hole exit. The max-
imum reduction of perforated plate permanent pressure loss was
recorded at convergent angle α1 ¼50° and divergent angle α2 ¼7°.
Further increase of both angles results in flow recirculation at hole
entrance and probable flow separation at hole exit.
The proposed optimized hole geometry reduces the permanent
pressure loss of the perforated plate by 51.7% at Re¼3.5  104. The
discharge coefficient of the optimized perforated plate ranges from
0.986 at Re¼1  104 to 0.997 at Re¼3.5  104. Moreover, the op-
timized hole geometry delays the onset of cavitation by improving
the cavitation number by 57.2–70.6%.
The proposed perforated plate with optimized hole geometry
shows inherent characteristics compared to other differential type
flow meters. It is small in size, simple in design and manufactur-
ing, has no moving parts and less sensitive to incoming flow dis-
tortion compared to standard orifice plates. Moreover, it has a
discharge coefficient higher than that of the flow nozzle and
comparable to that of the venturi meter. Its loss coefficient is al-
most half that of the original perforated plate. It delays the onset
of cavitation by 57.2–70.6% compared to the original perforated
plate.
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