LOSSES IN PIPES

WHY PIPES?

Have many application in engineering system

(particularly in fluid and thermal system).
E.g : not only in water supply system also oil &
gas industry, steam power plant, air-conditioning
system, hydraulic system, in car etc
Pipes (circular x-section), ducts (non-circular),
conduits, tubes (small circular pipes)
LOSSES IN PIPES
Always describe as pressure drop or head loss.
But usually, a quantity of interest in the
analysis of pipe flow is the pressure drop since
it is directly related to the power requirements
of the pump to maintain flow.
Therefore, the analysis of losses in pipes is
very useful in estimating the pressure drop
occurs.
Besides the pipe size and material also the
velocity in pipe, the pipe components such as
pipe fittings, valves, diffusers etc also affect
the flow patterns/conditions and this also
contributed to the losses.
TYPE OF LOSSES

There are 2 type of losses major losses and

minor losses.
Major losses caused by fluid friction.
given by,

Minor losses - due to changes in the pipe

cross section/ pipe components.
 MAJOR LOSSES

Major losses occur due to friction in pipe.

It depends on Reynolds no, surface roughness,
length and diameter of pipe, and also the velocity
in pipe.
Friction factor, f is depends on Reynolds no and
surface roughness.
It can be obtained from the eqns. such as the
Karman & Prandtl and Colebrook & White. But it is
 Reynolds
The Reynolds Number
number Re is a
dimensionless number that gives a measure of the
ratio of inertia forces to viscous forces.
The concept was introduced by George Gabriel
Stokes in 1851, but the Reynolds number is named
after Osborne Reynolds (18421912), who
popularized its use in 1883.
Reynolds number is used to characterize different
flow regimes whether it is laminar or turbulent flow
(but it always arise when performing dimensional
analysis of fluid dynamics problems, and as such
can be used to determine dynamic similitude
between different experimental cases)
Laminar and Turbulent
Laminar flow
flow
Laminar flow
Characterized by smooth
streamlines.
Occur at low velocities or at
Re < 2300 in circular pipes.

Transitional flow
2300 < Re < 4000
Turbulent flow
Turbulent flow
Characterized by velocity
fluctuations and highly
disordered motion (called
eddies).
Re > 4000
Reynolds Experiment
 Surface Roughness,
Surface roughness on pipe
of pipe is depends
material and how it been manufactured.
Different pipe material gives different value of
surface roughness.
Rough pipe wall surface gives high value of
surface roughness and it will contribute larger
losses.
While smooth pipe (i.e have lower surface
roughness or = 0) contribute lower losses.
Surface roughness on rough and smooth
wall
General steps in solving Major Losses
2. Calculate friction factor f 2. Determine surface
problems.
where f for laminar, roughness, and then
f = 64/Re relative roughness /D.
1. Determine Re where Re = VD/.
3. Calculate the losses head 3. Obtain the value of friction
factor f from Moody chart
Ifdue to friction
Re<2300 h f.
(laminar flow) If Re>4000 (turbulent
(base on Re dan /D
flow)
obtained before)
Note : f value only influenced
by Re. no. and not by the 4. Calculate the losses head
value of relative roughness due to friction hf.
because the pipe surface is
smooth (i.e = 0)
Moody Chart
 MINOR LOSSES

Minor losses is due to changes in the pipe cross

section.
It is depends on the velocity in pipe and the
geometry of pipe components and this can be
describe by the value of loss coefficient KL.
Different shape and geometry of pipe component
gives different value of KL.
Sometimes minor losses can be a major losses for
example in short pipes where there are a suction
KL for pipe entrance
KL for pipe entrance (graph)
KL for pipe exit
KL for sudden contraction
KL for sudden expansion
Other method to calculate KL for sudden
expansion (by using the equation obtained
from simple energy analysis)
KL for typical diffuser
KL for 90 bend
KL for pipe components
Common Types of Problems
In the design and analysis of piping systems that
involve the use of the Moody chart (or the
Colebrook equation), we usually encounter three
types of problems :

1. Determining the pressure drop (or head loss)

when the pipe length and diameter are given for
a specified flow rate (or velocity).
2. Determining the flow rate when the pipe length
and diameter are given for a specified pressure
drop (or head loss).
3. Determining the pipe diameter when the pipe
length and flow rate are given for a specified
pressure drop (or head loss).
Exercise 1 :
Water flows from basement (point 1) to the second floor
of building through the copper pipe with diameter of 1.9
cm at flow rate 0.000756 m3/s and flows out from the
faucet with diameter of 1.27 cm (point 2) as shown in
Figure. With the viscosity of water, = 1.12 x 10-3
Ns/m2, calculate the head losses of the pipe system.
Exercise 2 :