Energy and Buildings 45 (2012) 335338

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Energy and Buildings
j our nal ho mepage: www. el sevi er . com/ l ocat e/ enbui l d
Short communication
Economic optimization of pipe diameter for complete turbulence
Srbislav B. Geni c
a,
, Branislav M. Ja cimovi c
a
, Vojislav B. Geni c
b
a
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Kraljice Marije 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
b
Siemens IT Solutions and Services, Pariske komune 22, 11070 Belgrade, Serbia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 3 October 2011
Received in revised form24 October 2011
Accepted 30 October 2011
Keywords:
Pipeline
Optimal diameter
Complete turbulence
a b s t r a c t
Paper deals with the model for economic optimization of pipe diameter for complete turbulence. The
proposed new model for economic optimization of pipe diameter is based on simple economic balance
approach. The model covers the region of complete turbulence (so called rough pipe ow). Final result
estimates somewhat different pipe diameter values than the widely citedGenereaux equation for smooth
pipe ow.
2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Pipe cost optimization is a subject discussed more than once,
since rst optimization model [1] was published in 1937. This opti-
mization model was derived for turbulent ow in hydraulically
smoothpipes. Later, in1940, model was broadenedfor laminar ow
[2]. Discussion on cost optimization of the pipelines is a topic that
will always be actual, because the cost of the pipeline can reach
more than 20% of plants costs in chemical engineering [3,4] and
much more in district heating systems, natural gas or oil trans-
portation.
Generally friction factor in pipes depends on Reynolds number
Re =
vD

=
4V
D
=
4G
D
(1)
and relative pipe roughness
R
r
=

D
(2)
where v (m/s), is the average uid velocity; D (m), is the pipe inter-
nal diameter; (kg/m
3
), is the uid density; (Pa s), is the uid
viscosity; V (m
3
/s), is the uid volumetric owrate; G (kg/s), is the
mass ow rate of uid; (m), is the absolute roughness of pipe
internal surface.

Corresponding author. Tel.: +381 11 3302360; fax: +381 11 3370364.

E-mail address: sgenic@mas.bg.ac.rs (S.B. Geni c).
Most commonly used equation in engineering practice for cal-
culation of DarcyWeisbach friction factor is the Colebrooks
equation [5]
1
_

= 2 log
_
R
r
3.7
+
2.51
Re
_

_
(3)
which is valid for Newtonian uids in range Re =400010
8
and
R
r
=00.05.
For high Reynolds numbers friction essentially becomes inde-
pendent of Re. This ow region, characterized with ReR
r
_
/8 >
70, oftencalledcomplete turbulence, or (wholly) roughow, or owin
(hydraulically) roughpipes, is frequentlyencounteredincommercial
pipe ows [6,7].
Moody chart [8] graphically presents Colebrooks equation (3)
usually in loglog coordinates. If we take the look at Moody chart,
presented in Fig. 1, in linearlinear coordinates, we can conclude
that the region of complete turbulence occupies the major part of
the diagram (shaded region above the dashed line ReR
r
_
/8 >
70). This means that the Genereaux equation [1], based on the
optimization of the ow in hydraulically smooth pipes, cannot be
applied to the major part of the Moody chart, so it is necessary to
develop a newoptimization model for complete turbulence.
The optimization model for complete turbulence that will be
presented in this paper is based on the Shifrinsons friction factor
equation [9]
= 0.11R
0.25
r
(4)
Eq. (4) can also be obtained fromAltshuls equation [10]
= 0.11
_
R
r
+
68
Re
_
0.25
(5)
0378-7788/$ see front matter 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.enbuild.2011.10.054
336 S.B. Genic et al. / Energy and Buildings 45 (2012) 335338
Nomenclature
a amortization
b maintenance costs (annual)
C
c
annual capital cost (USD/year)
C
e
operational cost (USD/year)
c
en
cost of energy (USD/(Wh))
D pipe internal diameter (m)
E efciency
F factor that includes the cost of valves, ttings and
erection
J ratio of minor pressure losses and friction pressure
drop
k, K, m, M, x, X parameters
L pipe length (m)
G mass owrate (kg/s)
P power (W)
P
c
pipe purchase cost (USD)
Re Reynolds number
R
r
relative pipe roughness (m)
V volumetric owrate (m
3
/s)
v average uid velocity (m/s)
Y plant attainment (h/year)
Greek symbols
p pressure drop (Pa)
absolute roughness of pipe internal surface (m)
density (kg/m)
viscosity (Pa s)
friction factor
Subscripts
fr friction
ml minor loss
rpf rough pipe ow
spf smooth pipe ow
by letting Re, so the general formof friction factor can be writ-
ten as
= MR
m
r
= M
_

D
_
m
(6)
2. Pipe optimization model based on economic criteria for
complete turbulence
Total pipecost consists of twoparameters: capital cost andoper-
ational cost. The most economic pipe diameter will be the one
which gives the lowest annual cost.
Pipe purchase cost can be expressed by
P
c
= XD
x
L (7)
where L (m) is the pipe length and X and x are the parameters that
depend on the type of pipe material and pipe wall thickness (pipe
schedule).
Annual capital cost (C
c
, EUR/year) of pipeline is calculated using
C
c
= XD
x
L(1 +F)(a +b) (8)
where F is the factor that includes the cost of valves, ttings and
erection; a is amortization or capital charge (annual); b presents
the maintenance costs (annual).
In this paper the cost of pump (or compressor) is considered as
independent of D.
The power required for uid pumping (P, W) is given by
P =
Vp
E
=
Gp
E
(9)
where p (Pa), is the pressure drop; E is the overall efciency of
pump, compressor or ventilator.
Pressure drop is calculated as the sumof friction pressure drop
(p
fr
, Pa) and minor pressure losses (p
ml
, Pa)
p = p
fr
+p
ml
(10)
Friction pressure drop is
p
fr
=
L
D
v
2
2
=
L
D
8G
2

2
D
4
=
8

LG
2
D
5
(11)
Minor pressure loss can be estimated as head losses or by equiv-
alent lengths. In further analysis minor pressure losses will, simply,
be taken into account by
p
ml
= Jp
fr
(12)
where J is the ratio of minor pressure losses and friction pressure
drop.
Pressure drop than becomes
p =
8

2
(1 +J)
LG
2
D
5
(13)
Strictly speaking Eq. (13) applies only to non-compressible
isothermal ow. In engineering practice this equation can be
accepted to compressible ow if total pressure drop is less than
10% of the initial pressure [3].
Annual operational cost of pipeline is
C
e
= Yc
en
P (14)
that becomes
C
e
= 8
Yc
en
(1 +J)L

2
ED
5
G
3

2
(15)
where Y(h/year), is the plant attainment (annual operatinghours or
hours of operationper year); c
en
(USD/(Wh)), is the cost of pumping
energy.
After involving (6) in (15), for region of complete turbulence
operational cost can be expressed as
C
e
=
8MYc
en
(1 +J)L

2
ED
5+m

m
G
3

2
(16)
Total annual pipe cost is
C = C
c
+C
e
(17)
and, since C depends only on D, the optimumeconomic pipe diam-
eter can be found by
dC
dD
= 0 (18)
i.e.
dC
c
dD
=
dC
e
dD
(19)
After solving (19) for D, minimum cost (or economically opti-
mized) pipe diameter is
D
5+m+x
rpf
=
8(5 + m)M

2
(1 +J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a + b)

m
G
3

2
(20)
S.B. Genic et al. / Energy and Buildings 45 (2012) 335338 337
Table 1
Absolute roughness of pipes (uncertainty is given in brackets) [4,6,7].
Material condition (mm) [(8(5 +0.25)0.11/
2
)
0.25
]
1/(5+1.472+0.25)
CS commercial, new 0.046 (30%) 0.616
CS riveted 3.0 (70%) 0.720
CS rusted 2.0 (50%) 0.709
Iron cast, new 0.26 (50%) 0.657
Iron wrought, new 0.046 (20%) 0.616
Iron galvanized, new 0.15 (40%) 0.644
Iron asphalted cast 0.12 (50%) 0.638
Wood stave 0.180.91 0.6480.688
Concrete 0.33.0 0.6610.720
3. Discussion: comparison of the minimumcosts for rough
and smooth pipes
Genereaux equation [1] for smooth pipes can be expressed in
the formof:
D
5k+x
spf
=
8(5 k)K
4
k

2k
(1 + J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a +b)

k
G
3k

2
(21)
and it was derived using friction factor relation
= KRe
k
(22)
Genereaux [1] derived parameters K=0.16 and k =0.16 on the
safe side of the data on the von Karman plot, meaning that fric-
tion factor calculated using these values is greater than the one
calculated using (3) with R
r
=0.
According to 2008 prices, presented in [11], parameters in Eqs.
(20) and (21) for carbon steel pipes are X= 124.6, x =1.472 and
F =6.5.
Eqs. (20) and (21) can be simplied if we take the average values
for
m
and
k
for common range of and in engineering prac-
tice. For carbon steel (CS), iron and other rough pipes absolute
roughness is listed in Table 1 and average value of characteristic
parameter, for Shifrinsons m=0.25, is
_
8(5 +0.25)0.11

2

0.25
_
1/(5+1.472+0.25)
= 0.665
Table 2
Characteristic parameter in Eq. (21).
(Pa s) 10
2
10
3
10
4
10
5
_
8(50.16)0.16
4
0.16

20.16

0.16

1/(50.16+1.472)
0.821 0.775 0.731 0.690
Using this simplication Eq. (20) becomes
D
rpf
= 0.665
_
(1 + J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a +b)
G
3

2
_
1/6.722
(23)
The inuence of viscosity in Eq. (21) can be estimated for car-
bon steel (x =1.472, Table 2) and averaged value for characteristic
parameter is
_
8(5 0.16)0.16
4
0.16

20.16

0.16
_
1/(50.16+1.472)
= 0.754
so the minimumcost Eq. (21) becomes
D
spf
= 0.754
_
(1 + J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a + b)
G
3k

2
_
1/(50.16+1.472)
(24)
Durand et al. [11] adopted the following characteristic values
for other parameters: a + b= 0.2, Y=36524= 8760h/year, E= 0.5,
Fig. 1. Moody chart in linear coordinates.
338 S.B. Genic et al. / Energy and Buildings 45 (2012) 335338
Table 3
Different values for optimal pipe diameter obtained for owin rough and smooth pipes.
G (kg/s) Water, =1000kg/m
3
G (kg/s) Air, =1.2kg/m
3
D
rpf
(mm) v
rpf
(m/s) D
spf
(mm) v
spf
(m/s) D
rpf
(mm) v
rpf
(m/s) D
spf
(mm) v
spf
(m/s)
1 41 0.76 38 0.88 0.01 39 7.02 40 6.50
2 56 0.82 52 0.94 0.02 53 7.57 55 6.97
5 84 0.91 79 1.03 0.05 80 8.36 83 7.64
10 114 0.98 107 1.11 0.1 109 9.01 114 8.18
20 155 1.05 147 1.19 0.2 148 9.71 156 8.77
50 234 1.16 221 1.30 0.5 222 10.72 235 9.61
100 319 1.25 302 1.39 1.0 303 11.55 321 10.30
200 434 1.35 413 1.49 2.0 413 12.45 438 11.04
500 653 1.49 624 1.64 5.0 621 13.74 662 12.10
1000 890 1.61 852 1.75 10.0 846 14.81 904 12.97
c
en
=0.0716USD/(kWh). Using these values and J = 0.5, for carbon
steel pipes, characteristic members in Eqs. (20) and (21) are
_
(1 +J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a +b)
_
1/(5+1.472+0.25)
= 0.476
and
_
(1 +J)Yc
en
XxE(1 +F)(a +b)
_
1/(5+1.4720.16)
= 0.454
After involving these values in (23) and (24) the optimal pipe
diameter for owin rough pipes is
D
rpf
= 0.32G
0.446

0.298
= 0.32V
0.446

0.148
(25)
while for owin smooth pipes optimal diameter is
D
spf
= 0.34G
0.450

0.317
= 0.34V
0.450

0.133
(26)
Eqs. (25) and (26) slightly differ one from another, and for the
owof cold water and ambient air calculated values of pipe diam-
eters for rough pipes D
rpf
and smooth pipes D
spf
are presented in
Table 3, as well as corresponding velocities v
rpf
and v
spf
.
4. Conclusions
Major part in HVAC, oil and gas industry, chemical plant, etc. is
always connected with the uid transportation. Since the pipeline
cost can be signicantly higher than 20% of plants investment cost
the choice of pipe diameter (i.e. uid velocity) is of the great impor-
tance.
Nowadays piping design involves the usage of software pack-
ages that enable relatively quick estimation of capital piping costs,
without accounting its operating costs. This is the reason that
engineers still prefer to use simple equations for economically opti-
mized pipe costs (so-called rules-of-thumb) that can provide more
accurate solution and speed up hand calculations.
The optimumpipe diameter for givenowrate is the result of an
economic balance between capital and energy costs. In this paper
the new model was developed for the optimization of pipe diam-
eter in case of complete turbulence. It was shown that there is the
difference between well known and widely cited Genereaux equa-
tion (21) for ow in smooth pipes and newly developed equation
(20) for complete turbulence.
Acknowledgement
We thank the Ministry of Science and Technological Develop-
ment of Serbia for partial support of this study through the Project
of Energy Efciency.
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