Industrial Pumps and Fans:

Selection, Operation and Maintenance

And with
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
IN CAIRO
School of Sciences
and Engineering

Dr. Mohsen Soliman

Mech.Power Eng.Dept

Engineering Services

Presentation # (2)

Frictional Losses
and Flow Resistance
in Piping Systems
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PIPE-LINE SYSTEMS:

Calculations of Friction & Pressure Losses

in Pipes, Fittings, and Valves

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Dimensional and Experimental Analysis

of Turbulent-Pipe-flow
Summary of Case of Laminar Pipe-Flow:
1- Friction losses & pressure drop in Fully-developed regions of Laminar
flow in circular pipe was easily analyzed by analytical&dimensional methods.
2-Viscosity &Reynolds # are found to be very important in all laminar flows.
3- Surface roughness is found to be of no significance in laminar-pipe-flows.
Case of Turbulent Pipe-Flow:
4-Fully-developed circular pipe-Laminar flow applications are very limited!.
Most applications are turbulent & not fully-developed.

5-Turbulent flow is very complex, difficult to find complete governing eqns.

6-No rigorous theoretical treatment/analytical solutions for turbulent flow!.
7- Viscosity&Reynolds# are found to be of less significance in turbulent flow.
8- Surface roughness is found to be very important in Turbulent-pipe-flows
How to deal with turbulent pipe-flow & other fittings applications:

1-Most turbulent pipe-flow analysis are based on experimental data and semi
-empirical formulas, even if the flow is fully developed in circular pipes.
2-Turbulent flow results are given in dimensionless form and cover very wide
range of flow parameters, including arbitrary fluids, pipes, and flow-rates.
3-In addition to these fully-developed flow considerations, a variety of useful
data are available regarding flow through pipe fittings, such as elbows, tees,
valves, and the like. These experimental data are conveniently expressed also
in dimensionless form/charts/tables.
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Effect of age and use on pipe friction: pipe friction pressure losses is sensitive to changes
in diameter and roughness of pipe. For given rate of flow and fixed friction factor, pressure
drop per meter of pipe length varies inversely with the fifth power of the pipe diameter.
Therefore, a 2% reduction of diameter due to age causes an 11% increase in pressure drop;
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a 5% reduction of diameter causes an 29% increase in frictional pressure drop.

Example:

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Minor Losses in Valves:

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Common Types of Valves

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Flow through Valves

head or pressure losses in valves
are called minor losses
h

(Vd - VD)2
= K
2g

where :
Vd = flow velocity in valve throat
VD = flow velocity in pipeline.
K = resistance coefficient which
is found experimentally by the
valve manufacturer for
different valve openings

Note: K depends greatly on

the %age of valve
opening (as shown in
the next Table)

Increased Losses of
Partially Open Valves
Opening
Condition

Ratio K / K(fully-open)
Gate valve

Globe valve

Open 100%

1.0

1.0

Closed,25%

3.0-5.0

1.5-2.0

Closed,50%

12-22

2.0-3.0

Closed,75%

70-120

6.0-8.0

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Table : Typical resistance or

head loss coefficient [K]
Valve Type

Head loss coefficient

a. Gate valves

fully open
three-fourths open
half open
one-quarter open

b. Butterfly valves
closed angle,

0
10
20
30
40
50
60

c. Diaphragm valves
Fully open
Three-fourths open
One-half open
One-quarter open

0.19
1.15
5.60
24.0
0.30
0.46
1.38
3.60
10.0
31.0
94.0

Valve Type

Head loss coefficient

d. Plug globe or stop

Fully open
Three-fourths open
One-half open
One-quarter open

4.00
4.60
6.40
780.0

e. Check (Reflux) valve

Swing check (fully open)

2.5
Ball type (fully open)
2.53.5
Horizontal lift type
8 12

f.Foot valve with strainer 2.50

g.Pressure reducing valve 10.0

2.30
2.60
4.30
21.0
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Non-circular
Ducts:

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Summery of Some Design Basic Fundamentals:

Any piping system must include at least some of the following parts:
1-some lengths of straight pipes (can be different materials and/or diameters)
All pressure losses, P, or head losses, h = P/g , in straight pipes parts are
called the major losses
2- some valves + flow meters + pipe fittings (elbows, bends, ..etc)
Minor losses are any pressure or head losses in any thing which is not a pipe !
Note: in many cases minor losses >> major losses (the manes are just for fluid
terminology !).
Total Losses: To get the total pressure or head losses in a piping system
you do algebraic sum: Total losses = Major losses + Minor losses
Average velocity:

To do design calculations you need to known the average flow

velocity in the pipes (from the required flow rate and area of
the pipe V=Q/d2).
If the pipe is not circular, use the hydraulic diameter, dh=
4*the area/wetted perimeter. You get Reynolds number in
the pipe, Re = Vd/, so you can tell if the flow is laminar (if
Re < 2300) or turbulent inDr.the
pipe
(if Re > 2300).
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Calculations of Major losses in straight pipes:

All losses are usually calculated with respect to the available kinetic energy of the fluid which is
= ( V2). The friction factor or resistance coefficient, K (or KL or f) is defined as:
K = P /(V2)
The value of K is found (both analytically and experimentally) as a function of the Reynolds
number, Re, and the surface roughness, /d, of the pipe material (see Tables 8.1 & 6.1)
K = L/d {Re, /d}, where L is pipe length and d is the internal pipe diameter
Get K (or KLor f) from the very well known Moddy chart (fig.6.13) for straight pipes. Note that
the turbulent part of the chart is in fact an empirical or experimental part.

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Calculations of Minor losses:

We use the same analogy as for a straight pipe. That is we define a friction factor or resistance
coefficient, K (or KLor f) for any thing that is not a pipe.
K = P /(V2)
Therefore, we have infinite number of values for K. These values of K can not be found in one
chart like for a straight pipe. But we get these K from all experimental or empirical relations
given by the manufacturers of the valves, flow-meters, pipe fittings, elbows, bends, etc.
Note: some manufacturers define the equivalent length, Le , of the valve or pipe fittings so that
you can consider it as an additional length of the actual straight pipe parts so that the total length
of your pipes shall be increased by all the additional equivalent lengths of any thing in your
systems that is not a straight pipe.
Using Computer Software in the design of Piping systems:

Today we can find great number of computer software and modern practices and
standards which we can use in designing of piping systems. You can search the internet for
some of theses software. All of them store huge number of databases for many fluid
properties, type of pipe materials, types of pipeline fittings, valves and flow meters. These
software store all or mant values of friction factors or resistance coefficient, K ( or KL or f)
for all possible parts of piping system. You insert some data and drawings about your
piping system and the software does all the calculations for you and may also output some
drawings in addition to the required results.
Note: You must know very good what is going on inside these software not just use them as
some type of Black Boxes. (How do you calibrate these software to trust them!!!!)
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First we have to know how to solve some practical cases without the use of computer (why??)

Practical Exercise Cases

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Type (I) Problem:

Type (II) Problem:

Type (III) Problem:

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Some of Commercial Computer Software for doing Piping System Design Calculations

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