concerned with plates. In these, the leading edge is sharp and free of burrs and the cylindrical section of the orifice is short, either because the entire plate is thin or because the downstream edge of the plate is bevelled. Exceptions include the or orifice, which has a fully rounded leading edge and no cylindrical section, and the or plate which has a bevelled leading edge and a very short cylindrical section. The orifices are normally concentric with the pipe (the orifice is a specific exception) and circular (except in the specific case of the or orifice, in which the plate obstructs just a segment of the pipe). Standards and handbooks stipulate that the upstream surface of the plate is particularly flat and smooth. Sometimes a small drain or vent hole is drilled through the plate where it meets the pipe, to allow condensate or gas bubbles to pass along the pipe. Pipe Standards and handbooks stipulate a well-developed flow profile; velocities will be lower at the pipe wall than in the centre but not eccentric or jetting. Similarly the flow downstream of the plate must be unobstructed, otherwise the downstream pressure will be affected. To achieve this, the pipe must be acceptably circular, smooth and straight for stipulated distances. Sometimes when it is impossible to provide enough straight pipe, flow conditioners such as tube bundles or plates with multiple holes are inserted into the pipe to straighten and develop the flow profile, but even these require a further length of straight pipe before the orifice itself. Some standards and handbooks also provide for flows from or into large spaces rather than pipes, stipulating that the region before or after the plate is free of obstruction and abnormalities in the flow. Theory Incompressible flow By assuming steady-state, incompressible (constant fluid density), inviscid, laminar flow in a horizontal pipe (no change in elevation) with negligible frictional losses, Bernoulli's equation (which expresses the conservation of energy of an incompressible fluid parcel as it moves between two points on the same streamline) can be rewritten without the gravitational potential energy term and reduced to: or: By continuity equation: or and : Solving for : and: The above expression for gives the theoretical volume flow rate. Introducing the beta factor as well as the discharge coefficient : And finally introducing the meter coefficient which is defined as to obtain the final equation for the