Summary

The pressure drop or flow rate through a valve or orifice plate is typically calculated using the a flow coefficient, Cv or orifice diameter. This article demonstrates how to convert between these two parameters when performing functions such as selecting a valve with an equivalent pressure drop to a given orifice plate.

Convert RO Diameter to Cv

Definitions

:Orifice Diameter (m)
:Flow coefficient, US imperial units
:Discharge coefficient, dimensionless
:Ratio of orifice to pipe size , dimensionless

Subscripts

:Upstream of orifice or nozzle
:Downstream of orifice or nozzle
:Orifice or nozzle


Orifice Diameter as a function of Cv

The formula for equating the orifice diameter to the flow coefficient is as follows:

Where the diameter is in meters, and the is in US units USGPM and PSI.

The above equation permits the specification of a ratio, which is the ratio of the orifice diameter to the upstream pipe diameter. This equation can be simplified by assuming that the orifice diameter is small compared to the upstream pipe diameter, i.e. ( ), as follows:

Cv as a Function of Orifice Diameter

Alternatively an orifice diameter can be converted to an equivalent Cv using the equation below:

Again we can simplify the equation by assuming that ( ) to get the following:

Conversion Values

The table below provides a quick reference for the conversion between and assuming that and .

CvD (mm)
0.0010.188
0.0050.421
0.010.595
0.051.33
0.11.88
0.54.21
15.95
513.3
1018.8
5042.1
10059.5
500133


Further Reading

  1. Flow Measurement Engineering Handbook, R. W. Miller
  2. Albright's Chemical Engineering Handbook, L. Albright
  3. Instrument Engineers' Handbook, Vol. 1: Process Measurement and Analysis

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