TAM 335 Elementary Laboratory Procedures

This is the partial report for TAM 335 Lab 1

• 2 Bourdon gages
• 1 Differential manometer
• Water
• Mercury
• Balance beam
• Large water container

1. Open the water valve to a steady rate, use the manometer to choose the desired flow rate
2. Have the tank be draining
3. Tune the scale so that it is marked as a overbalanced. Have the scale arm hit the bottom stop
4. Close the drain, wait for the scale to reach the balance mark
5. Once the balance mark has been reached, start a stop watch
6. Measure the manometer right and left heights as well as the Bourdon Gages readings
7. Add a known weight to the balance pan, the balance beam will again wall and bit the bottom stop
8. wait for the scale to reach it balance point a second time
9. Stop the stopwatch and record the time interval and the chosen weight, manometer and Bourdon Gages readings
10. repeat steps 1-9 with a different flow rates

In the end there should be a clear linear relationship between the manometer and Bourdon Gages measurements as well a near exponential relationship between the flow rate and the pressure difference.

• The differential pressure measurement method that appears to be more reliable is the Manometer since it seems to continue the data trend better.
• The Manometer seems to be more reliable between 0 and 0.0004 m^3/s, the Bourdon Gages however might be more reliable between 0.0008 and 0.0012. Though the contrast in reliability is very hard to determine.
• The explanation for the the difference between the two methods can be can be both to user error and the sensitivity of the instruments. The Manometer had smaller increments for the pressure; however the value was no stable, it would oscillate up and down due to the small flow rate changes. At the higher flow rates, the manometer oscillations were a little bit more prevalent, thus making the measurements a little bit less accurate. The Bourdon Gages had a better time measuring the inner pressure; however, due to using two Gages the measurement error would increase by a factor of two. Thus for the smaller measurements the error would be more prevalent.

1. Ql = 0.0003565 m^3/s, time = 41.865 s
2. Qs = 0.00108409 m^3/s, time = 127.31 s
3. e = (0.00108409 - 0.0003565) / (0.5 ( 0.00108409 + 0.0003565) ) = 1.0101 error quotient = 1.0
4. I believe that a error precision of 1.0 is typical engineering calculation since this indicates a relatively small small error given the possible measurement ranges.