A study on factors influencing the performance of CMFs on measurement of high viscosity flows

Abstract

A Coriolis Mass Flowmeters (CMFs), outperform other flow measurement systems owing to their perceived high accuracy and good repeatability. That has attracted its use in different fields including the bunkering industry. Bunkering operations entail high viscosity flows that may limit the applicability of high accuracy CMFs.   Furthermore, their performance for measurement of single-phase high viscosity flow remains less explored and the mechanisms responsible for possible additional measurement error due to high viscosity fluid are not thoroughly studied. This study characterizes the performance of CMFs on the measurement of high viscosity fluid via CFD simulations. It is observed that the error of CMFs on measurement of high viscosity is deemed relatively large at low mass flow rates and which monotonically increases as the viscosity increases. The sudden pressure increase and secondary flow in the vicinity of the flow sensors’ locations are the key factors influencing the measurement discrepancy. It is worthy to note that this study is highly significant to the bunkering industry as it can serve as a baseline for further experimental works on the measurement of bunker fuel oils.