Numerical Simulation of Transit-time Ultrasonic Flowmeters in Deep-regulating Units

A discontinuous Galerkin approach was presented for the numerical simulation of acoustic waves propagation in transit-time ultrasonic flowmeters. The wave propagation in the fluid part was described by the linearized Euler equations and the equations of linear elasticity was adopted in the solid part. Stationary background flow field of ultrasonic propagation was calculated by solving the k-ε turbulent flow model. By linearizing the acoustic variables, the governing equation of linear sound propagation in the adiabatic state was obtained. By defining the normal velocity on the surface of transducers, the average sound pressure on the surface of receiver under downstream and upstream propagation could be generated. The simulated time difference was smaller than that of the experimental results when comparing the average sound pressure for downstream and upstream propagation. But the error of time difference between the experimental and simulation was within 5%.