Pressure Drop through Valves, Pipe Equivalent Length

The
equivalent length of a fitting or an obstruction is the length of the pipe that
offers the same pressure drop due to friction.
It is
usually expressed in terms of the equivalent pipe diameters Le/d.

Example
4.13: Water flows through a smooth pipe having
inside diameter 0.5 in at a velocity of 2 ft/s. The pipe is 1000 ft in length.

Piping arrangement contains a fully-open, a 3/4-open, a 1/2-open, and a

1/4-open gate valves. Use equivalent
length of valves, Le, to
estimate the total pressure
drop. Use the following information:

Density = 62.37 lb/ft3;

viscosity = 7.53 10-4
lb/(fts)

Solution:

C
Calculate Re:

C
Friction factor for smooth pipe f = 0.0086.
C
Obtain equivalent lengths of the valves using Figure 4.5
Total equivalent length Le
= 52.35 ft.

Valve
Lei/ft

Gate valve, full-open

0.35

Gate valve, 3/4-open

2

Gate valve, 1/2-open

10

Gate valve,1/4-open
40

ni

ni Lei /ft

0.35

10

40

52.35

C
Calculate the effective length of the pipe as the sum of the
pipe length and the equivalent lengths of fittings and valves.

C
Calculate frictional loss hf

C
If the points in consideration are at the same elevation,
then pressure drop is

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