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A characteristics model of transient

friction in pipes
a a
Alan E. Vardy & Kuo-Lun Hwang
a
Department of Civil Engineering , University of Dundee , U.K.
Published online: 18 Jan 2010.

To cite this article: Alan E. Vardy & Kuo-Lun Hwang (1991) A characteristics model of transient
friction in pipes, Journal of Hydraulic Research, 29:5, 669-684, DOI: 10.1080/00221689109498983

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 A characteristics model of transient friction in pipes
Modle d'coulement non permanent en conduite
avec frottement par la mthode des caractristiques
ALAN E. VARDY
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Dundee, U.K.

KUO-LUN HWANG
Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Dundee, U.K.
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ABSTRACT
A quasi two-dimensional model of transient flows in pipes of circular cross-section is developed, using the
one dimensional method of characteristics in concentric cylindrical annuli. Lateral velocity components are
permitted between adjacent cylinders. The model can nominally incorporate any desired relationship
between shear stresses and local velocities. In this paper, it is applied to laminar flows and to a five-region
model of turbulent flows.
The accuracy of Zielke's (1969) one-dimensional expression for transient wall-shear stresses in laminar flows
is verified, and it is shown that his expression is also a reasonable approximation for smooth-wall, turbulent
flows, at least at low Reynolds numbers. Quasi-steady relationships are shown to be highly inaccurate in
transient laminar or turbulent flows.

RSUM
Cet article prsente le dveloppement d'un modle d'coulement quasi bidimensionnel d'coulement non
permanent dans des conduites de section circulaire, bas sur la mthode des caractristiques une dimen-
sion dans l'espace annulaire compris entre deux cylindres concentriques. Des composantes transversales de
la vitesse sont possibles entre cylindres adjacents. Le modle peut prendre en compte toute relation entre les
contraintes de cisaillement et les vitesses locales. Dans cet article, le modle appliqu des coulements
laminaires et des coulements turbulents pour un domaine dcoup en 5 rgions.
La prcision de l'expression unidimensionnelle de Zielke (1968) a t vrifie pour des contraintes de cisail-
lement la paroi non permanentes en laminaire, et il a t galement montr que cette expression est une
approximation raisonnable pour les coulements hydrauliquement lisses et turbulents, bas nombre de
Reynolds. Des relations quasi-permanentes se sont avres tout fait imprcises pur les coulements
laminaires de transition ou les coulements turbulents.

1 Introduction

Although great advances have been made in computer simulations of fluid flows in pipe net-
works, most effort in recent years has been directed at the development of increasingly complex
boundary conditions and control mechanisms. Relatively little attention has been paid to im-
proving the representation of flows along the pipes themselves even though inadequacies are
known to. exist. One example is the representation of skin friction in transient turbulent flows.
In many analyses, transient effects are either neglected or allowed for only approximately when
representing skin friction. This is understandable because of the resulting simplicity, but it is
nevertheless grossly misleading in some cases. In Fig. 1, a pressure wave is imagined to propagate
along a pipeline, bringing the bulk flow suddenly to rest. Thereafter, the mean velocity and the

Revision received November 23, 1990. Open for discussion till April 30, 1992.

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 669

 J

f-

(a) t < t c (b) t > t 0 (c) tt 0

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Fig. 1. Disturbance of a steady flow by a pressure wave at t = t0.

Perturbation d'un coulement permanent par une onde de pression au temps t = t0.

mean acceleration are both zero, but there is nevertheless a large skin friction force at the wall.
Indeed for some time, the skin friction is much greater than in the initial steady flow.
A possible reason for the low level of interest in such effects is that quite accurate 2-D and 3-D
models of turbulence exist. Finite element packages and other methods of analysis enable
complex flows to be simulated using turbulence models involving semi-empirical relationships.
They are especially valuable for studying flows in regions where 3-D effects are important
because 1-D models can be almost useless in such cases. They are also capable of being used to
model flows parallel to an axis and, indeed, the empirical coefficients needed for their use are
usually deduced from measurements in such flows.
From a practical standpoint, it is rarely, if ever, realistic to resort to 2-D or 3-D analyses of tur-
bulent flows in extensive pipe networks and it is not likely to become realistic to do so for many
years. In the meantime, there is a need for improved 1-D representations of unsteady turbulent
flows to complement the laminar flow models developed by Zielke (1968) and Trikha (1975).
Empirical and semi-empirical 1-D formulae have been presented for turbulent flows by, for
example, Daily, et al. (1956) Carstens and Roller (1958), Safwat and Polder (1973), Vardy (1980)
and Brekke (1989). However, none is generally valid and it is difficult to select correct values for
the various empirical coefficients. One reason for this is that definitive experimental data is not
available for unsteady turbulent flows in pipes.
In addition to the need for improved 1-D models of skin friction in unsteady turbulent flows, it
would also be desirable to have laminar models that place smaller demands on computer memory
capacity. Zielke expressed his formulae as an infinite series of weighting factors to be applied to
mean velocities at previous instants. The series can be truncated with little loss of accuracy, but it
is necessary to store information from many time levels. Zielke's expression is accurate and fairly
simple to use, but it requires a large memory capacity and so it is not ideal for use on PC com-
puters. Trikha (1975) partially overcame this problem. His expression requires information from
only one previous time level, but it also requires the storage of several additional parameters at
each data point.

670 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 1.2 Objectives
The principal purpose of this paper is to present a quasi two-dimensional analysis of unsteady tur-
bulent flows in a pipeline, allowing for temporal variations in the wall shear stress. The analysis
can be used to assess the importance of transient components of skin friction. At some future
date, it may be used to validate proposed one-dimensional models of turbulent skin friction. In
the meantime, it is useful in its own right because it requires much less computer memory
capacity than a fully two-dimensional analysis.
The model was inspired by earlier work by Bratland (1986) who simulated transient laminar flow
in a pipe. His model was based on a discretization of the flow into several hollow cylinders as
shown in Fig. 2. The shear stress between any two cylinders was assumed to be proportional to
their velocity difference, and realistic velocity distributions were predicted following instan-
taneous valve closure at the downstream end of a simple pipeline. Bratland's results agreed
closely with the experimental data presented by Holmboe and Rouleau (1967).
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Allsup (1973) also used a discretization of the flow into concentric cylinders. He used the Method
of Characteristics to simulate the axial propagation of pressure waves in each cylinder. The
principal purpose was to study the behaviour of non-Newtonian fluids and so his efforts were
concentrated primarily on modelling laminar shear between adjacent cylinders. He did not take
explicit account of lateral flows between cylinders.

(5
Fig. 2. Discretization of flow into a finite number of cylinders.
Discrtisation de l'coulement en un nombre fini de cylindres.

2 Cylinder model
Fig. 3 depicts an elemental length x of a typical cylinder./ which (unlike Bratland's cylinders) is
imagined to extend along the whole length of the pipe. The local axial velocity component is ut
and, in general, there are lateral velocity components Vj_j and Vj to or from adjacent cylinders. For
a fluid of density Q, the continuity equation is

(2nQr.Ar,u)x + Inoir-, \Ar)vi-ix

ax
p>
-2nQ{ri + f Afj)vj(5x = {2nQriArix) (1)
at
After division by In Arsx and the introduction of an equation of state Kdq = gdp, in which K is
the bulk modulus of elasticity of the fluid, this may be written as

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 671

 Vi
Vi-i L
i-i
pressure p p+p

Uj Ar,
jfc
T

-H- Sx
Fig. 3. Equilibrium of a single shell.
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Equilibre d'un lment de coque.

g dH gu, dH du. 1
(WJ_! - m) (2)
dt dx dx QCtj

where m = InrQv denotes a lateral mass flux per unit length, as is the cross sectional area of the
cylinder, H is the local pressure head (assumed to be uniform within any cross-section) and c is
the wavespeed.
For simplicity, the pipe wall is assumed to be inextensible, thus ensuring that there is no lateral
velocity component at the wall and enabling the wavespeed to be represented by

K_
c2 = (3)
Q

In principle, the usual water-hammer approximation of an effective wavespeed allowing for wall
elasticity could be introduced. However, this would imply coupling between the pressure and the
lateral velocity component at the outer radius of the outer cylinder (which would be equal to the
radial velocity of the wall). The inclusion of such a complication is not justified at this stage.
The assumed uniformity of pressure at any cross-section will not exist exactly, but it is a good
approximation along most of the pipeline since axial variations in pressure are much greater than
radial variations in typical water-hammer flows where low frequency phenomena predominate
for most of the time. The approximation is least accurate close to a rapidly closing valve, but even
this inaccuracy will reduce rapidly as the resulting wavefront propagates along the pipeline, see
Mitra and Rouleau (1985) for instance. Effectively, the assumption places a lower limit of a few
pipe diameters on axial distances over which differences in the predicted flow parameters are
meaningful. In contrast, vorticity diffusion occurs slowly and so the velocity profile in any cross-
section continues to change long after a pressure wavefront has passed.
The resultant pressure and shear forces acting on a typical cylinder in the axial direction are
counterbalanced by the local rate of increase of momentum and by the excess of the momentum
efflux over the momentum influx. In addition to the usual axial flows, there are contributions
from the lateral flows and an assumption must be made about the magnitude of the axial velocity
at the interface between adjacent shells. In the following development, the axial velocity com-
ponent at an interface is approximated by the mean of the velocities in the adjacent shells. In this case,
the axial momentum equation for flow in an elemental length of a typical cylinder/ can be shown to be

672 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 dH du. du, \ , \ i / ^ i
(4)
dx dt ox Qdj
in which F s 2W/-T denotes the local shear force per unit length.

2.1 Numerical solution

Equations (6) and (8) can be combined linearly to form a pair of characteristic equations de-
scribing perturbations moving at speeds + c and c relative to the fluid, namely

g dH du, 1 r ... . . ... \ i / \n

~ 7 7 + 7 7 = K - i j(j-i + j)c}-/j{|(j+ uj+l)c) + {FJ_l-FJ J (5a, b)

These equations are valid only in the "characteristic" directions

dx
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U: C (6a, b)
t
respectively.
At any distance x along the pipeline, two equations (5a) and (5b) can be written for each cylinder.
When there are J cylinders, there are 2 / linear simultaneous characteristic equations providing
relationships between the 27 unknowns H, uu w2...wj, rh\,... rh^] (N.B. mQ = ms = 0). These
equations are readily solved by standard matrix methods.

Boundary conditions: Just inside the pipe at inlet from a reservoir, the head is predetermined and
all lateral fluxes irij are assumed to be zero. The J characteristic equations are sufficient to deter-
mine the axial velocity components in each of the / cylinders and it is not necessary to solve the
equations simultaneously. At a closed valve, all axial velocity components are zero and the /
characteristic equations are solved simultaneously to yield H, w b m2,... Wj-i-

Fixed grid: The solution is obtained at regular time intervals at each of the regularly spaced flow
sections shown in Fig. 4. For simplicity at this early stage of development, the analysis is restrict-
ed to low Mach number flows so that equations (6a, b) may be approximated by dx/dt = + c.
There would be no difficulty in principle in dealing with the more general case in the usual way,
with either space-wise or time-wise interpolations - see Wiggert and Sundquist (1977) and
Goldberg and Wylie (1983).

Fig. 4. Finite difference grid for a single pipeline.

Schma des diffrences finies pour une conduite unique.

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 673

 Finite differences: The terms on the left hand sides of equations (5a, b) can be integrated exactly.
The terms on the right hand sides are approximated by finite difference expressions and some
simplification is desirable. In the case of the terms involving the lateral mass flux m, it is noted
that {u c) varies only slightly in low speed liquid flows. This suggests the approximation
A A

J m(u c)dt = (u c)LA J m at = (u c)LAmLA At ^ c0niLA At (7)

L L

in which L and A denote successive times on a typical characteristic line (Fig. 4), the subscript LA
denotes an average value between these points and c0 denotes the (nearly constant) wavespeed.
In practice, however, this formulation causes large oscillations in the numerical solution close
to wavefronts. Numerical experiments with several alternative formulations have shown the
following approximation to be preferable:
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j m{u c) dt (u c)LmAAt c0mAAt (8)

L

This representation yields stable solutions and it is easily coded. It has some features in common
with the expression \UL\UA used by Vardy and Chan (1983) and by Wylie (1983) in the represen-
tation of skin friction in one-dimensional flows.
The last term on the right hand side of equation (5) describes the interfacial shear. This is dis-
cussed separately for laminar and turbulent flows in Sections 3 and 4 respectively.

2.2 Cylinder discretization

In the preceding development, no restrictions have been placed on the sizes of the various
cylinders. In the special case of only one cylinder (J = l) the analysis is identical to a conven-
tional Method of Characteristics approach (except for the representation of shear stress) and
no account is taken of lateral velocity components.
When several cylinders exist, there remains the freedom to choose their radial thicknesses
independently. Bratland used cylinders of equal cross-sectional area, which implies that the
thickness reduced with increasing radius. This gives greater detail close to the pipe wall than is
obtained with cylinders of equal thickness. Since the radial disturbances are caused primarily by
the no-slip condition at the wall and since diffusion processes are much slower than wave proces-
ses in low Mach number flows, this is a significant advantage.
In the authors' computer program, the facility exists to prescribe equal thickness (dt rfj_j= con-
stant), equal area (dj d]-X = constant) or user-specified thicknesses. Nevertheless, all results
presented herein have been obtained with cylinders of equal area.
In addition to choosing the relative thicknesses of the various cylinders, it is necessary to choose
their total number. In common with the number of grid lengths along the pipe, greatest accuracy
is normally obtained with the greatest number of cylinders. This, however, leaves open to
question whether it is more advantageous to have many cylinders and few grid lengths or vice
versa. Ideally, the question should be resolved by a stability/convergence analysis, but it has
actually been resolved by trial and error using numerical experiments.
For the particular problem considered herein, the optimum ratio of the number of grid lengths
(iVjt) and the number of cylinders (/VR) is found to be about 1.5. The use of significantly fewer
cylinders (Nx : 1.5NR) leads to poorer definition for a given computer resource whereas the use
of too many cylinders (/Vx<sc \.5NR) leads to instability.

674 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 In the case of the turbulent simulations described in Section 4, there is a narrow region adjacent
to the wall where viscous conditions are dominant. It is essential to have at least one cylinder
wholly within this region. Otherwise, the influence of viscosity is underestimated and the skin
friction approximates too closely to quasi-steady behaviour.

3 Laminar flow
The use of the method is illustrated firstly for laminar flow, partly for simplicity, but also because
of the availability of other solutions and accurate experimental data. For a Newtonian fluid, the
shear stress at the interface between adjacent cylinders can be approximated as, typically,

du "j-i
(9)
'j-i
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where r$ denotes the radius at the centroid of cylinder y and Uj is the local axial velocity com-
ponent.
Initially, fully developed Poiseuille flow is assumed to exist throughout the pipeline from the
reservoir to the valve. This is a considerable simplification at the ends of the pipeline, especially
at the upstream end, but it will have negligible influence on the predicted conditions elsewhere
in the pipeline during the period simulated.
The transient conditions are generated by complete closure of the valve in a time interval not
exceeding one calculation grid interval. At the valve itself, the axial velocity component in every
cylinder is zero at all subsequent times, but lateral velocity components exist as the flow adopts
the pattern illustrated schematically in Fig. 5. The induced pressure rise is approximately equal
to QCU where U denotes the mean velocity of flow before closure. Upstream of the valve, this
pressure rise is insufficient to stop the fluid near the pipe axis, but it is more than sufficient to stop
the outer layers of fluid which were initially moving more slowly. As the pressure wave pro-
pagates upstream, therefore, pronounced reversed flows are established close to the wall.
The predicted pressure histories just upstream of the valve and at the midlength of the pipe are
shown in Fig. 6 together with the measured values presented by Holmboe and Rouleau (1967). By
inspection, the level of agreement is very good, as indeed was that obtained by Bratland (1986)
and by Zielke (1968) amongst others. The measured time of valve closure was not reported, but it
can be seen to have been equivalent to several calculation time intervals, thus accounting for the
larger rates of change of pressure in the numerical case.

wavefront
Fig. 5. Reversed flow induced by sudden valve closure.
Ecoulement de retour induit la fermeture brusque d'une vanne.

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 675

 experiment
1.0 ii numerical
ii
M

II
/l
II ^^>
Il
0 j^y*
/ y

\>

VA

1.0
o (a)
o 1 1 i

10 12
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Time (ct/L)

(O
o

1.0 **^ =r ~ r ~~l

- f l\
S*^*
n A
0 \
\\ \

s ^^
**i
1.0
' (b)
1 1 i i i

10 12
Time (ct/L)
Fig. 6. Pressure histories in Holmboe and Rouleau's apparatus (1967): Laminar flow (a) at the mid-length
of the pipe, (b) at the valve.
Diagramme de pressions dans les essais de Holmboe et Rouleau (1967). Ecoulement laminaire: (a)
au milieu de la conduite, (b) la vanne.

Fig. 7 depicts successive radial distributions of the axial velocity, the lateral velocity and the shear
stress at the mid-length of the pipe. These are the predicted distributions (1) during the steady
state prior to valve closure, (2) shortly after the arrival of the initial wavefront and (3) shortly after
the subsequent reflection of this wavefront from the reservoir. The radial extent of the various
cylinders is indicated at the left hand side of box (a).
By inspection, the initial steady state condition has a dominant influence on the subsequent axial
velocity profile except close to the wall. A pronounced flow reversal exists close to the wall during
the period of approximately zero mean flow, giving rise to a large wall shear stress that cannot be
predicted by a quasi-steady representation of friction. During period (3), the original profile
remains approximately valid in the core region and requires the outer layers to assume a larger

676 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES. VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 cylinders
/
R
/r'^
=
=
m

^ . 3
^,
V
^2 \ l
E \ S
s
>v
N^
E
_
\ N \ \
\ \
(a) \ \ \
i i i \ \
-200 -100 0 , 100 200 300
u, mm/s
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2
"^ 7

(c)
1 1 1 1 1 f 1 1
-6 -4 -2 0
T,Pa
Fig. 7. Radial distribution of axial velocity, lateral velocity and shear stress: Laminar flow (at mid length of
pipe).
Distribution radiale de la vitesse axiale, de la vitesse transversale et de la contrainte de cisaillement:
coulement laminaire (au milieu de la conduite).

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 677

 reverse velocity than would obtain in a steady flow. The wall shear stress therefore continues to
be more important than in a steady flow with the same mean velocity.
Fig. 8 shows the wall-shear stress histories obtained using (i) the cylinder model, (ii) Zielke's
formulae and (iii) a quasi-steady approximation. The latter is a poor approximation but agree-
ment with Zielke's expression is excellent. In this illustration, Zielke's formula has been applied
to mean velocities obtained from the cylinder model, not to mean velocities from an independent
one-dimensional analysis. The close agreement between the two methods gives confidence in
(a) the ability of the cylinder model to predict the wall-shear stress accurately, (b) the validity of
Zielke's relationship between the wall shear stress and the mean velocity history and, by implica-
tion, (c) the ability of the cylinder model to predict the whole velocity profile accurately.

20
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a. 10
co*
co
a>
co 0 jC

CO

.c
CO present
-10
Zielke
co
quasi-steady

-20
0 4 10 12

Time (ct/L)
Fig. 8. Predicted wall shear stress histories: Laminar flow (at mid length of pipe).
Valeurs calcules de la contrainte de cisaillement la paroi: coulement laminaire (au milieu de la
conduite).

4 Turbulent flow
In principle, the cylinder model can be used with any prescribed expression for the shear stress.
The important case of turbulent flow in a smooth pipe is now considered and use is made of a five
region model proposed by Kita, Adachi and Hirose (1980) for oscillating flows, namely

Region 1:

0<v < - : (10)

* a
Region 2:
1 a
ay,
a Cb

678 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 Region 3:

a x v,
<.<- TTTTT^T^: - = Q X2 (12)
Cb ' Cb + (*2/4Cm/te, v
Region 4:

,-<.< ===|l +1/1 -^-J: - = xy.n-T7rr- (13)

Cb + (x 2 /4C m /JeJ '* x | |f Cm] v '*\ 4CmRe
Region 5:
2C m /?r
1+ <,<<?,,: -=CcRet (14)

in which w^ = yrw]Q,y, = utyjv, Ret = ,//v and v and v, are the kinematic viscosity and the kine-
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matic eddy viscosity respectively. The values of the numerical coefficients proposed by Kita et al.
are a =0.19, Cb = 0.011, Cm = 0.077 and x = 0.41. The parameter Cc is a function of the Reynolds
number and typically lies in the range 0.05 < C c < 0.07.
Strictly, there is little justification for using oscillating flow expressions in an analysis of water
hammer flows. However, the authors have experimented with a variety of simpler models and
have obtained similar results. The five region model has been chosen partly to demonstrate the
capability of the new cylinder method of analysis. In this context, note that the most rapid
changes in the velocity profile occur closest to the wall and so regions 1 and 2 are more important
than regions 3,4 and 5. In particular it is acceptable to approximate Cc throughout any particular
analysis by the value appropriate to the Reynolds number of the initial steady flow.
The predicted and measured pressure historiesjust upstream of the valve and at the mid-length of
the pipe are shown in Fig. 9. The level of agreement with experiment is quite good, but note that
the influence of skin friction is much smaller than in the corresponding case with laminar flow
(Fig. 6).
Fig. 10 depicts successive radial distributions of the axial velocity, the lateral velocity and the
shear stress at the mid length of the pipe at the same times as those depicted in Fig. 7 for laminar
flows. The radial extent of the cylinders is indicated at the left hand side of box (a) and the radial
extent of the shear stress regions (equations 10-14) is shown at the right hand side.
The qualitative behaviour of the flow is similar to that obtained in the laminar case. However, the
influence of the wall region is much more localised in the turbulent case. This provides justifica-
tion for the type of model proposed by Funk and Wood (1974) with a core region of uniform flow.
In this particular case, the magnitudes of the lateral velocity components are similar to those in
the corresponding laminar flow even though the axial components are smaller (because similar
steady flow pressure gradients were chosen for the two cases). No account is taken of the lateral
components in most analyses of pipe flows, but they could be imnortant in unsteady flows
because of their contribution to momentum interchange between layers. They are necessary to
preserve the assumed uniformity of pressure in each cross-section and they should not be con-
fused with mass exchanges responsible for the development of Reynolds stresses.
Fig. 11 shows the predicted wall-shear stress history at the mid length of the pipe, and predictions
obtained using (i) Zielke's laminar flow expression and (ii) the quasi-steady (turbulent) approxi-
mation are also shown. The latter is very poor.
It is pleasantly surprising that Zielke's expression is so successful even though his assumed
(laminar) initial velocity profile differs markedly from reality. This suggests that the conditions

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 679

 1.0 -

~ - 1.0 -
o
i 6 8 10 12
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O)
Time (ct/L)

O)
co
0)

1.0
r A
- w <n

0
i
i

1.0
j
i
J
W^v
" (b)
i

6 8 10 12
Time (ct/L)
Fig. 9. Pressure histories in Holmboe and Rouleau's apparatus (1967): Turbulent flow (a) at the mid-length
of the pipe, (b) at the valve.
Diagramme de pression dans les essais de Holmboe et Rouleau (1967). Ecoulement turbulent (a) au
milieu de la conduite, (b) la vanne.

close to the wall during the highly transient period are not strongly dependent on the precise
velocity profile over the whole cross-section during preceding periods. That is, the velocity
reversal is strongly influenced by the wall and by the bulk conditions in the core region, but not by
the detailed conditions in the core. This provides useful guidance for the development of alter-
native one-dimensional models of unsteady skin friction in turbulent flows.
If the assumption is made that the cylinder model predictions are reasonably accurate in the
turbulent case, then Fig. 11 provides useful evidence about the importance of the bulk velocity
history. By inspection, Zielke's laminar flow model predicts similar overall magnitudes of the
wall shear stress, but smaller rates of decay (ignoring the sharp peaks). It follows that the erro-
neous initial velocity profile has little influence on the predicted behaviour close to a wavefront.

680 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 eddy viscosity
cylinders model regions

" ^ ^
'. ~ "*~ - Vi
m*
I
=

'x N >v
1
=
\ 1

\
\

\
\
\ \
E=
\ 1
\ \

.
\3
\
\2
V
i i i
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-500 -250 0 250 500

u, mm/s

-0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4

1,Pa
Fig. 10. Radial distribution of axial velocity, lateral velocity and shear stress: Turbulent flow (at mid length
of pipe).
Distribution radiale de la vitesse axiale, de la vitesse transversale et de la contrainte de cisaille-
ment: coulement turbulent (au milieu de la conduite).

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5 681

 5 i 1
(0 i i
i
1
i 1
n. i
1
I shear stress

_
V
h h
v^^_

'p_
\ &
o

CO
r\r
l' ''

/

,
present
Zielke

-5 i quasi-
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steady
1 i I i i i

0 2 4 6 8 10 12
Time (ct/L)
D
Fig. 1 . redicte d shear stress histories: Turbulent flow (at mid length of pipe .
Valeurs calcules de la contrainte de cisaillement la paroi: coulement turbulent (au milieu de la
conduite).

This confirms that the most recent events are of greatest importance and therefore gives hope
that an approximate one-dimensional representation of unsteady skin friction is in principle
achievable without the penalties of computer memory associated with existing models.

5 Conclusions
1. A quasi two-dimensional model of transient flows in pipes of circular cross-section has been
developed, using the one dimensional method of characteristics in concentric cylindrical
annuli.
2. The model allows for mass exchange between adjacent annuli and it is therefore able to predict
lateral flows induced by pressure disturbances propagating axially.
3. The model has been used to demonstrate the validity of Zielke's expression for wall shear
stresses in transient laminar flow.
4. It has also been used to show that Zielke's model provides a good first approximation for tran-
sient turbulent flows.
5. Quasi-steady representations of skin friction are highly inaccurate in either laminar or tur-
bulent transient flows.

682 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

 Nomenclature
a cross-sectional area
a boundary layer coefficient in equations (10)-(12)
A arbitrary coefficients in equations (3) and (4)
c speed of sound
Cb, Cc, C m boundary layer coefficients in equations (10)-(14)
F friction force per unit length
g gravitational acceleration
H pressure head
K bulk modulus of elasticity
m mass flux
r radial co-ordinate
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R radius of pipe
Ret Reynolds number defined following equation (14)
t time
u axial velocity component
ut wall shear velocity = j/r^/e
U mean axial velocity
v radial velocity component
x axial co-ordinate
y radial distance from wall = (R r)
yt dimensionless distance defined following equation
x boundary layer coefficient in equations (12)(14)
H absolute viscosity
v kinematic viscosity
vt kinematic eddy viscosity
Q density
T shear stress

Suffices
j shell number
J outermost shell
1 laminar
t turbulent
w wall

JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC RESEARCH, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5

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684 JOURNAL DE RECHERCHES HYDRAULIQUES, VOL. 29, 1991, NO. 5