Piping Pressure Drop Functions

by Stephen Hall, PE

PIPESIZE, a comprehensive pipe sizing spreadsheet template is available from

http://www.pipesizingsoftware.com
PIPESIZE includes pre-formatted datasheets, extensive tables of piping and material properties, and other great features.

This template contains a Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) function to

facilitate the building of pressure drop templates.
It is written for American units of measure; the PIPESIZE template has functions for SI Units
This function is designed for liquid water only; PIPESIZE works with any liquid or gas,
and PIPESIZE also solves compressible flow problems that are either isothermal or adiabatic.

Input Data Required

Pipe Data
Inside Diameter of Pipe
Surface Roughness
Equivalent Length

units
inches
feet
feet

Fluid Data
Mass Flow Rate
Upstream Pressure
Temperature

lb/hr
psia
deg F

value
2.067
0.00080
100

30,000
55.0
80

Note: the viscosity and density are computed in the Function subroutine using the following formulas:
Viscosity, lb/ft-h = -0.23535 + 208.65 / Tin - 2074.8 / Tin ^ 2
Density, lb/ft3 = 62.7538 - 0.00353 * Tin - 0.0000482 * Tin ^ 2
Calculation
Downstream Pressure
Pressure Drop, friction

psia
psi

#VALUE!
#VALUE!

To calculate pressure drop directly, if Upstream Pressure is unknown, use an arbitary value for pressure (in this example, 100)
Pressure Drop, friction
psi
#VALUE!

Function PDUSa(W, Pin, Pout, d, L, epsilon, Optional Tin)

' Pressure Drop due to friction in a round pipe for water only
' with the following arguments
' Specify two of the following three; function will compute the
third
' W = mass flow rate, lb/hr
' Pin = inlet, or upstream, pressure, psia
' Pout = outlet, or downstream pressure, psia
' Pipe properties
' d = pipe inside diameter, inches
' L = pipe length, feet
' epsilon = Surface roughness is in units feet
' Fluid properties
' Tin -- inlet temperature, deg F (default to 60)
' Density -- calculated for water, lb/ft3
' f = Darcy friction factor

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Pin = inlet, or upstream, pressure, psia

Pout = outlet, or downstream pressure, psia
Pipe properties
d = pipe inside diameter, inches
L = pipe length, feet
epsilon = Surface roughness is in units feet
Fluid properties
Tin -- inlet temperature, deg F (default to 60)
Density -- calculated for water, lb/ft3
f = Darcy friction factor

and other great features.

essure (in this example, 100):