FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                  Roger Rensberger
July 22, 1994                           (301) 975-2762

                                        TN-5983

               ORIFICE METER DISCHARGE COEFFICIENT DATABASE

                          AVAILABLE FOR PC USERS


     A new database with important information on the performance
of orifice meters in measuring fluid flows is now available from
the Standard Reference Data Program at the National Institute of
Standards and Technology.  The personal computer database will be
helpful to the owners and operators of gas and oil pipelines,
mechanical and petroleum engineers, industrial designers,
researchers and others concerned with flow measurement.

     NIST Standard Reference Database 45, GRI/NIST Orifice Meter
Discharge Coefficient Database, Version 1.0, was developed under
a grant from the Gas Research Institute.  The data were compiled
by scientists in the NIST Process Measurements Division, Boulder,
Colo.

     GRI sponsored research at NIST Gaithersburg and Boulder, and
Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas.  Cooperating
laboratories included British Gas, United Kingdom; Colorado
Engineering Experiment Station Inc.; Delft Hydraulics Laboratory
and Gasunie, the Netherlands; and the National Engineering
Laboratory, Scotland.

     The database contains data for five working fluids:  air,
gas-oil, nitrogen gas, natural gas and water, in orifice meter
line sizes of 50 millimeters to 600 millimeters.  Other
information includes meter tube size, surface roughness and
pressure tap orientation.

     In addition to information on fluids, there are data on
installation conditions such as long upstream straight pipe,
elbow, tees and reducers at varying positions.  Information also
is included for the performance of flow conditioners that may be
inserted in piping configurations that are less than ideal.  The
conditioners include Sprenkle, Zanker, etoile or tube bundle.    

      Depending upon the option chosen, the search results can be
displayed in either a tabular or graphical format.  The user also
can select metric units (SI) or conventional engineering values
for tube diameter, orifice diameter, flow pressure, temperature,
density and differential pressure.  At the conclusion of a
search, the user can display discharge coefficients against a
pipe Reynolds number along with discharge coefficients predicted
by the orifice meter equation.  Information from the search also
can be saved in an ASCII file for later use.

     The GRI/NIST Orifice Meter Discharge Coefficient Database,
Version 1.0, is available for $240.  It is designed for any 
PC-DOS or MS-DOS computer using DOS 3.3 or greater and at least
8MB memory and a color monitor.

     To order NIST Standard Reference Database 45, contact 
the Standard Reference Data Program, A320 Physics Building, 
NIST, Gaithersburg, Md. 20899-0001, (301) 975-2208, fax:  
(301) 926-0416, e-mail:  SRDATA@enh.nist.gov  (via Internet).

     As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by
working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.

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