1.

0 TITLE
Fluid Friction and losses in pipes

2.0 OBJECTIVE
- To obtain the relationship between Reynolds number, frictional factor and losses in
pipes
- To determine the relationship between head loss due to fluid friction and velocity for
flow of water through bore pipes

3.0 EQUIPMENT
- Hydraulic Bench, Smooth and roughened bore pipes of various diameters, Manometer

4.0 INTRODUCTION

In general, as an incompressible fluid flows through a pipe, a friction force along the
pipe wall is created against the fluid. The frictional resistance generates a continuous loss of
energy or total head in the fluid and hence decreases the pressure of the fluid as it moves
through the pipe. The flow of a fluid in a pipe can be interrupted by many reasons which
cause friction loss in the pipes. There are four factors that determine friction losses in pipe
which are velocity of the fluid, size (internal diameter) of the pipe, roughness of the inside of
the pipe and the length of the pipe. The resistance due to the friction on the internal surface of
pipe sudden contraction or expansion, fittings used in plumbing, elbows, valve, junction, all
cause head losses in minor scale.

In this experiment, the focus will be on the energy losses due to friction in the pipe,
the relationship between head loss, friction factor, flow rate and Reynolds number for both
laminar and turbulent flow in a smooth and rough pipe will also be investigated. Laminar and
turbulent flow are types of flow in pipes and how they influence energy losses in pipes.
Laminar is a smooth streamlines and highly ordered motion, and turbulent is characterized by
velocity fluctuations and disordered manner motion. The head loss through a smooth bore
pipe will be determined experimentally and will be compared with prediction made using
the Moody diagram. The effect of roughness on head loss and on the friction factor will be
investigated. It will be shown that the head loss in a pipe fitting is also proportional to the
velocity head of the fluid and the fitting factor is constant for a fitting.
 In piping system, the pump provides flow and develops hydraulic pressure (head)
to overcome the differential in head between two points. This total head differential consists
of pressure head, static head, velocity head and total friction head produced by friction
between the pulp suspension and the pipe, elbows and fittings. The total friction head is the
most difficult to determine because of the complex, nonlinear nature of the friction loss
curve. This curve can be affected by many factors. The friction loss of pulp suspensions in
pipe, as presented here, is intended to supersede the various methods previously issued.
Friction head losses in straight pipes of different sizes can be investigated over a range of
Reynolds’ numbers, thereby covering the laminar, transitional and turbulent flow regimes in
smooth pipes. A further test pipe is artificially roughened and at the higher Reynolds'
numbers shows a clear departure from typical smooth bore pipe characteristics. In addition to
the smooth and roughened pipes, a wide range of pipeline components are fitted, including
pipe fittings and control valves, allowing investigation of the losses caused by this type of
connection. A clear acrylic section of pipeline houses a venturi meter, an orifice plate
assembly and a pitot tube, so that these can be investigated as flow measurement devices.

Figure1- Fluid friction measuring apparatus

4.1 Theory
Type of flow inside a closed tubing (or pipe) can be divided into which are laminar and
turbulent flows. Laminar flow is a type of fluid flow in which the fluid travels smoothly or
orderly manner. In laminar flow, sometimes called streamline flow, the velocity, pressure and
other flow properties at each point in the fluid remain constant. The head loss, h, that is due
to the generated shear stress is proportional to the velocity of the flow.

A flow can be determined by calculating the Reynolds Number. It can be calculated by the
formula given below.

𝑰𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒕𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝑽𝒂𝒗𝒈 𝑫 𝝆𝑽𝒂𝒗𝒈 𝑫

𝑹𝒆 = = = Equation 1
𝑽𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒗 𝝁

𝜇
Where, 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑔 is average velocity (m/s), 𝐷 is characteristic length of geometry (m) and 𝑣 = 𝜌

is Kinematic viscosity of the fluid (m2/s). The value of the Reynolds number is used to
predict the type of flow. [5]

𝑅𝑒 ≤ 2300 → Laminar Flow

𝑅𝑒 ≥ 4000 → Turbulent Flow

Reynolds number is very important in determining whether the flow is laminar or turbulence.
The friction factor formula laminar is:

𝟔𝟒
𝐟 = 𝐑𝐞 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑟 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 Equation 2

For turbulent flow in rough pipes, the value of friction factor, f is obtained from the Moody
Chart or Colebrook equation. The Colebrook equation as stated below

𝟏 𝜺 ⁄𝑫 𝟐.𝟓𝟏
= −𝟐 𝒍𝒐𝒈𝟏𝟎 ( + ) Equation 3
√𝒇 𝟑.𝟕 𝑹𝒆√𝒇

While for smooth pipes, the Darcy-Weisbach equation is used to obtain the friction factor and
head loss,

L V2
hl  f Equation 4
D 2g
where hl is the loss of head (units of length) and the average velocity is V. The friction factor,
f, varies with Reynolds number and a roughness factor.

5.0 PROCEDURE
1. Table below shows the respective pipe dimensions.
2. The water manometer’s rubber tube was connected to the inlet flowing pressure(H1)
and the outlet flowing pressure (H2) of pipe A.
3. The pump and valve was started and controlled to manipulate the flow rate. The
readings at the rotameter for flowrate, Q is taken.
4. The diameter and the length were followed as given in the laboratory sheet.
5. It was made sure that there are no bubbles along the tubing. If there was presence of
bubbles, they are carefully removed without damaging the line.
6. The time taken to collect 5 liters of water in the volumetric tank was recorded using a
digital stopwatch.
7. Steps 2 to 7 were repeated with pipe B and pipe C. The reading of manometer and
time taken to collect 5 liters of water for each flow rate was repeated twice. The
experiment is repeated with different flow rates.
6.0 DATA AND ANALYSIS
Table 1: Data recorded
Table 2: Experimental Results
 7.0 ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION

Head loss,∆h vs flowrate,Q to compare 17mm straight roughened pipe and 17mm smooth
pipe.

Head loss vs flowrate,Q for different

roughness of 17mm pipe
0.6

0.5
Head loss,∆h (m)

0.4

0.3
17mm rough pipe
0.2 17mm smooth pipe
0.1

0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2
Flowrate,Q (mᶟ/h)

Figure 2: Head loss against flow rate

Log h versus Log V for each size of pipe

 10mm pipe

10mm pipe (log h against log V)

0
-0.15 -0.1 -0.05 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
-0.2
-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2

Figure 3: Graph of log h against log V

 17mm of smooth pipe

17mm smooth pipe (log h against log V)

0
-0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4
-0.2

-0.4

-0.6

-0.8

-1

-1.2

-1.4

Figure 4: Graph of log h against log V

 17mm of rough pipe

17mm rough pipe (log h against log V)

0
-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 0
-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
-0.8
-0.9
-1

Figure 5: Graph of log h against log V

7.1 DISCUSSION

This experiment was focus on friction in the pipe, the relationship between head loss,
friction factor, flow rate and Reynolds number for both laminar and turbulent flow in a pipe.

Table 1 and 2 are the result of this experiment. The volume flow rate, Q of water was
V
calculated using the equation, Q = . The volume was kept constant at 5L. The values of
t

head loss, ∆h is different between h1 and h2. The experiment was repeated for 3 times and the
average for time taken to collect 5L water, h1 and h2 were calculated and used for following
calculations. Where else average velocity of water flow was determined by using equation
Q
vavg = . From the Reynolds number obtained in this experiment, it can be determine
A

whether the water flow is turbulent or laminar. For laminar friction is calculated using 𝑓 =
64
and for turbulence Darcy-Weisbach equation or moody chart. The temperature of water is
𝑅𝑒

assumed to be at 20 oC and the pressure is 1atm. So, the values obtain from the steam table
are μ=0.001 kg/ms and 𝜌 =998 kg/m3. For the Pipe friction coefficient, f, Darcy-Weisbach
D ghL
equation f = 2 was applied.
L v2avg

From this experiment, it can be observed that head loss due to fluid friction will decrease if
velocity of water through bore pipes decline. This is because fluid friction is directly
proportional to velocity. Besides, the higher the roughness of the pipe, the higher the
frictional factor, f. The head loss will be higher since more energy is needed to overcome the
friction loss that produced in higher roughness of pipe. This can be proven by the application
of Moody Chart, where it stated that the friction factor, f is directly proportional to the
roughness of pipe and inversely proportional to the diameter of the pipe. It was also observed
that the friction factor is inversely proportional to the velocity. This is because, for low
velocities (laminar flow), friction loss is caused by viscous shearing between streamlines near
the wall of the pipe. For high velocities (turbulent flow), friction loss is caused by water
particles coming into contact with irregularities in the surface of the pipe and surface
roughness. Apart from that, it can be seen that the diameter of pipe reduces the flow velocity
so much as flow velocity is equal to the flow rate divided by the area of the pipe. When the
diameter is larger, the Reynolds number will be higher as well as the volume flow rate. This
is due to the equation Reynolds number = ρVD/μ .
Using the data obtained in graph of head loss versus flowrate and graph of log h versus log V
was plotted.

Based on Graph head loss versus flowrate, it can observe that the head loss, ∆𝐻 for
smooth pipe of and rough pipe of 17mm increases rapidly when the flow rate of the fluid
increases. When the diameter of the pipe increases, the shear force acting on it also increases
flow velocity is directly proportional to the volumetric flow rate, the system head loss must
be directly proportional to the square of the volumetric flow rate. From this relationship, it is
possible to develop a curve of system head loss versus volumetric flow rate. The head loss
curve for a typical piping system is in the shape of a parabola.

Based on Graph log h versus log V, log V is directly proportional to log h. As the log V
increases, the log h also increases. The equation from the obtained line can be determined by
using y = mx + c, where x is log V, m is the slope of the line and x is log h. Equation for
10mm pipe is 𝑦 = 1.8452𝑥 − 0.8118, 17mm smooth pipe is 𝑦 = 1.7366𝑥 − 1.1018 and 17
mm rough pipe is 𝑦 = 2.091𝑥 + 0.1013. The process of a laminar flow becoming turbulent
is known as laminar-turbulent transition. The transitional flow is where the Reynolds number
in the range of 2300 ≤ Re ≤ 4000. The parameters that can reduce the head loss are diameter
of pipe, length of the pipe and also surface of pipe. The pipe diameter should be bigger
because it is capable to reduce the resistance and friction loss. The length of the pipe should
be smaller because it can reduce the resistance along the pipe. Smooth surface are more likely
to reduce the head loss compared to rough pipe.

The sources of errors were mainly due to human error. Human error such as parallax error
and zero error when taking reading of the manometer. To avoid this, eye level should be
perpendicular to the scale. Besides, fix the manometer reading at same level before start the
experiment to get accurate result. In order to obtain the readings, the water level must be let
to stable first. Other than that, air bubbles were seen to develop inside the pipe. This could
have resulted in fluctuations of the liquid level in the manometer. The value taken might have
varied from the actual value. Furthermore, the temperature measured might also be
inaccurate, and could have given rise to wrong estimations for the values of density and
viscosity of water. Besides, the gravity also affects the flow of fluid in the pipes depending
the position of the pipe.
8.0 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the objectives of the experiment were achieved. When the frictional
factor increases, the losses in pipe and the Reynolds number increases. The higher the
velocity of the flow, the higher the value of the Reynolds number and friction losses in the
pipe. The head loss which caused by fluid friction is directly proportional to the velocity of
the flow in the bore pipes. The accuracy of the experiment can be increased if we can
improve all of the error made during the experiment and discussing the precautionary steps
before beginning with the experiment.

As a recommendation, the water must be changed frequently to avoid corrosion in pump and
in other equipment’s. This is because it can cause frictions loss and effect the efficiency of
the pump. Apart from that, the equipment must maintain in a good condition for a better and
accurate result. All the safety procedures must be followed to avoid accidents.

9.0 REFERENCES

1) Cengel Y.A and Cimbala J.M. (2014). Fluid Mechanics: Fundamentals &
Applications. Third Edition in SI Units. 3rd Ed. McGraw-Hill Education, Asia.
2) Laminar and turbulent flow. 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2017, from
http://www.efm.leeds.ac.uk/CIVE/CIVE1400/Section4/laminar_turbulent.htm
3) What is friction? - definition, formula & forces - video & lesson transcript.
Retrieved on March 29, 2018, from http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-
friction-definition-formula-forces.html
4) Wiliam. Friction, force and gravity, force and motion, science year 8, NSW.
Retrieved on March 17, 2016, from
http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-4_u-308_t-755_c-2841/friction/nsw/friction/force-
and-motion/force-and-gravity
10.0 APPENDIX

Picture 1: Shows the piping system Picture 4: Shows the volumetric tank

Picture 2: Shows the control valve Picture 5: Shows the manometer

Picture 3: Shows the pump