An Uncertainty Analysis of Mean Flow Velocity Measurements Used to Quantify Emissions from Stationary Sources

Published

May 20, 2014

Author(s)

Rodney A. Bryant, Olatunde B. Sanni, Elizabeth F. Moore, Matthew F. Bundy, Aaron N. Johnson

Abstract

Point velocity measurements conducted by traversing a pitot tube across the cross section of a flow conduit continues to be the standard practice for evaluating the accuracy of continuous flow monitoring devices. Such velocity traverses were conducted in the exhaust duct of a reduced-scale analog of a stationary source and mean flow velocity was computed using several common integration techniques. Sources of random and systematic measurement uncertainty were identified and applied in the uncertainty analysis. When applicable, the minimum requirements of the standard test methods were used to estimate measurement uncertainty due to random sources. Estimates of the systematic measurement uncertainty due to discretized measurements of the asymmetric flow field were determined by simulating point velocity traverse measurements in a flow distribution generated using Computational Fluid Dynamics. For the evaluated flow system, estimates of relative expanded uncertainty for the mean flow velocity ranged from ±1.4 % to ±9.3 % and depended on the number of measurement locations and the method of integration.

Citation

Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association

Volume

64

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2014.881437

Keywords

point velocity measurements, emissions measurements, stack gas velocity, exhaust duct velocity

Citation

Bryant, R. , Sanni, O. , Moore, E. , Bundy, M. and Johnson, A. (2014), An Uncertainty Analysis of Mean Flow Velocity Measurements Used to Quantify Emissions from Stationary Sources, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, [online], https://doi.org/10.1080/10962247.2014.881437 (Accessed October 13, 2025)