- 1). Measure the diameter of the pipe in question. Divide the diameter in two, square it and multiply it by Pi to get the cross-sectional area of the pipe.
- 2). Measure the velocity of the fluid moving through the pipe. The velocity is different from the volumetric flow rate as it measures only the distance that a unit of water travels per unit time, not the volume of water that travels through the pipe per unit time. To measure the velocity, you can place an object in the pipe and record the amount of time it takes that object to reach another point along the pipe. The velocity is the distance traveled divided by the time it took.
- 3). Multiply the velocity of the fluid in the pipe by the cross-sectional area of the pipe. This will yield the pipe's volumetric flow rate.
- 1). Find the density of the fluid in question. Water usually has a density of one, making calculations easy. See Resources for a chart listing the densities of different fluids.
- 2). Determine the temperature of the fluid in your pipe. Note that the fluid-density chart takes temperature into account.
- 3). Multiply the fluid density by the volumetric flow rate. The result is the mass flow rate.
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