# Volumetric flow rate

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Volumetric flow rate

The volumetric flow rate in fluid dynamics and hydrometry, (also known as volume flow rate or rate of fluid flow) is the volume of fluid which passes through a given surface per unit time (for example cubic meters per second [m3 s-1] in SI units, or cubic feet per second [cu ft/s] ). It is usually represented by the symbol "Q".

Volumetric flow rate should not be confused with volumetric flux, represented by the symbol "q", with units of m3/(m2 s), that is, m s-1. The integration of a flux over an area gives the volumetric flow rate. Volumetric flow rate is also linked to viscosity.

Given an area "A", and a fluid flowing through it with uniform velocity "v" with an angle θ away from the perpendicular to "A", the flow rate is::$Q = A cdot v cdot cos heta.$

In the special case where the flow is perpendicular to the area A, that is, θ = 0, the volumetric flow rate is: :$Q = A cdot v.$

If the velocity of the fluid through the area is non-uniform (or if the area is non-planar) then the rate of fluid flow can be calculated by means of a surface integral:

:$Q = iint_\left\{S\right\} mathbf\left\{v\right\} cdot d mathbf\left\{S\right\}$

where "d"S is a differential surface described by::$dmathbf\left\{S\right\} = mathbf\left\{n\right\} , dA$with n the unit surface normal and "dA" the differential magnitude of the area.

If a surface "S" encloses a volume "V", the divergence theorem states that the rate of fluid flow through the surface is the integral of the divergence of the velocity vector field v on that volume:

:$iint_Smathbf\left\{v\right\}cdot dmathbf\left\{S\right\}=iiint_Vleft\left( ablacdotmathbf\left\{v\right\} ight\right)dV.$

ee also

*Air to cloth ratio
*Darcy's law
*Discharge (hydrology)
*Flowmeter
*Flux (transport definition)
*Mass flow rate
*Orifice plate
*Poiseuille's law
*

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