Discharge coefficients for choked gas-liquid flow through nozzles and orifices and applications to safety devices

A choked flow model is employed to analyse the available experimental data on compressible gas-liquid flow through nozzles and sharp-edged orifice plates. The data satisfying the conditions for choked flow are subjected to further analysis to determine correlations for the discharge coefficients. It is demonstrated that choking mass flowrates can be predicted to within ±6% for nozzles and ±7% for sharp-edged orifice plates. These correlations for discharge coefficients are intended to be of a general nature and ought to lend some confidence to their applicability outside the ranges of experimental parameters. The applicability of these results to pressure relief valves and rupture discs is also discussed. © 1990.