Department of Chemical Engineering

National Institute of Technology, Warangal

________________________________________________________

Academic Year

: 2014-15, I Semester, II Biotech

Course

: CH235 Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer

Instructor

: Dr. V. Ramsagar

FRICTION FROM CHANGES IN VELOCITY OR DIRECTION. Whenever the velocity of a fluid is

changed, either in direction or magnitude, by a change in the direction or size of the
conduit, friction is generated in addition to the skin friction from flow through the straight
pipe.
Such friction includes form friction resulting from vortices that develop when the normal
streamlines are disturbed and when boundary-layer separation occurs.
In most situations, these effects cannot be calculated precisely, and it is necessary to rely
on empirical data.

Friction loss from sudden expansion of cross section

Wakes with vertex motion
hfe V2a/2

Ke

To Calculate Ke
utilize the continuity equation, the steady-flow momentum balance Equation, and the
Bernoulli equation
Pipe is horizontal
wall friction is negligible because the wall is relatively short and there is almost no velocity
gradient at the wall between the sections.

Momentum balance eq

Bernoulli eq

Friction loss from sudden contraction of cross section

fluid stream cannot follow around the sharp corner and the stream breaks contact with
the wall of the conduit. A jet is formed, which flows into the stagnant fluid in the
smaller section. The jet first contracts and then expands to fill the smaller cross
section, and downstream from the point of contraction the normal velocity distribution
eventually is reestablished. The cross section of minimum area at which the jet
changes from a contraction to an expansion is called the vena contracta.

The friction loss from sudden contraction is proportional to the velocity head in the
smaller conduit

Kc is contraction loss coefficient

EFFECT OF FITTINGS AND VALVES.

Fittings and valves disturb the normal flow lines and cause friction. In short lines with many
fittings, the friction loss from the fittings may be greater than that from the straight pipe.

FORM-FRICTION LOSSES IN THE BERNOULLI EQUATION.