This International Standard specifies the geometry and method of use (installation in a system and operating conditions) of critical flow Venturi nozzles (CFVN) used to determine the mass flow-rate of a gas flowing through a system. It also gives the information necessary for calculating the flow-rate and its associated uncertainty.
It is applicable to Venturi nozzles in which the gas flow accelerates to the critical velocity at the throat (this being equal to the local sonic velocity), and only where there is steady flow of single-phase gases. At the critical velocity, the mass flow-rate of the gas flowing through the Venturi nozzle is the maximum possible for the existing upstream conditions while CFVN can only be used within specified limits, e.g. Iimits for the nozzle throat to inlet diameter ratio and throat Reynolds number. This International Standard deals with CFVN for which direct calibration experiments have been made in sufficient number to enable the resulting coefficients to be used with certain predictable limits of uncertainty.
Information is given for cases where the pipeline upstream of the CFVN is of circular cross-section, or it can be assumed that there is a large space upstream of the CFVN or upstream of a set of CFVN mounted in a cluster. The cluster configuration offers the possibility of installing CFVN in parallel, thereby achieving high flow-rates.
For high-accuracy measurement, accurately machined Venturi nozzles are described for low Reynolds number applications.