Response of a vortex flowmeter to impulsive vibrations

Experiments were performed to study the response of a vortex flowmeter to s tructural vibrations due to impulsive forces applied on the pipe. Vortex-sh edding signals obtained by a piezoelectric sensor embedded in a vortex shed der were examined. Major findings are described as follows. First, by impro ving the design of the piezoelectric sensor, the sensor sensitivity to stru ctural vibrations could be reduced. Specifically speaking, the noise compon ent due to impulsive force with level up to 13.8 kN could be removed effect ively from the output. Second, by applying repetitive impulsive forces on t he pipe, characterized by a frequency greater than the vortex-shedding freq uency, the quality of vortex-shedding signals measured was degraded substan tially. This is explained as being due to suppression of vortex shedding, n ot a problem in conjunction with the characteristics of the sensor. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.