HEAD LOSS DUE TO FRICTION IN CIRCULAR PIPE

The Darcy equation gives the head loss in turbulent flow for a circular pipe.

hf = 4 f l x v2
d 2g

Where:

f is the friction factor

l is the length of pipe being consider
d is the pipe diameter
v is the mean velocity of the fluid

The friction factor f depends on the velocity of flow, the pipe diameter, the fluid
density and viscosity and the roughness of the pipe.

One mean of calculating the friction factor (for turbulent flow is smooth pipes)
is to use the Blasius equation:

f = 0.079/Re 1/4

This is accurate within + 5% for smooth pipes at Reynolds numbers less than
100 000

In order to calculate losses for a larger range of Reynolds numbers and pipe
roughness we need to use the Moody Chart. This is a graph of the friction
factor f against Reynolds numbers for various values of k/d, where k is a
measure of the wall roughness and d is the pipe diameter.

From the Moody chart we can see that there are 3 regions which can be
considered when attempting to gain a value for f.

1. Laminar flow – f = 16/Re (Up to Re = 2000)

2. For pipe roughness k value less than 0.001, the Blasius equation can
d

f = 0.0079
Re1/4

3. For high k values or high Reynolds numbers

we need to use the
d

appropriate k value and Reynolds number on the chart.

d

headloss/docs/sci/DC/MGS
Example
Water with a coefficient of dynamic viscosity of 1.4 x 10 -3 NS/m2 flows along a
pipe 50mm diameter. If the pipe has an absolute roughness of 0.0000 7m,
calculate:

1. The head lost due to friction per km of pipe

2. The power required to overcome friction per
km of pipe

(a) For a flow rate of 3 litres/min

(b) For a flow rate of 40 litres/min

1(a) For a flow rate of 3 litres/min

Calculate the Reynolds number to determine whether the flow is laminar or

turbulent

Q = _____3___ = 5 x 10 -5 m3/s
1000 x 60

V = Q
A

= 5 x 10 -5 x 4
π x 0.052

= 0.025 m/s

Re =  vd
μ

= 1000 x 0.025 x 0.05

1.14 x 10-3

= 1096

This is less than 2000, therefore the flow is laminar, and we can use the
equation

f = 16
Re

= 16 = 0.0146
1096

hf = 4 f l v2
2gd

headloss/docs/sci/DC/MGS
 = 4 x 0.0146 x 1000 x 0.0252
2 x 9.81 x 0.05

= 0.037 m of water

2(a) Power to maintain flow = Q γ h

= 5 x 10-5 x (1000 x 9.81) X 0.037

= 0.018 W

1(b) For a flow rate of 40 litres/min

(i) Q = 40 = 6.67 x 10-4 m3/s

1000 x 60

V = Q = 6.67 x 10-4 x 4 = 0.34 m/s

A π x .052

Re =  vd
μ

= 1000 x 0.34 x 0.05

1.14 x 10-3

= 14912

This is significantly greater than 2000, therefore the flow can be assumed
turbulent. Therefore we can use a combination of the Moody Chart and Darcy
equation.

Using the Moody Chart, for Re = 14912 and relative roughness =

0.00007 = 0.0014
0.05

f = 0.0078

headloss/docs/sci/DC/MGS
hf = 4 f l v2
2gd

= 4 x 0.0078 x 1000 x 0.342

2 x 9.81 x 0.05

= 3.68m

2(b)  = Qγh

= 6.67 x 10-4 x (1000 x 9.81) x 3.68

= 24.1 W

headloss/docs/sci/DC/MGS