2 Flow in Pipes &

Closed Conduits

1- Introduction

The flow of water, oil and gas in pipes is of immense

practical significance in CE
Sources

Pressure
Pipelines

Water Treatment Plants Distribution Consumers

system

Surface water drainage and sewerage is conveyed by

closed conducts, which do not usually operate under
pressure, to sewage treatment plants, from where it is
usually discharged to a river or the sea.
Oil and gas are often transferred from their source by
pressure pipelines to refineries (oil) or into distribution
network for a supply (gas)
Theory of pipe flow will be discussed in this chapter.

2 - Two kinds of flow

Osborn Reynolds (1880)

Found 2 kinds of flow

Laminar
Turbulent

Introduced Reynolds number (Re)

Re

where

VD

(1)

V : mean flow velocity

D : pipe diameter
v : kinetic viscosity

Re<2000
Flow is always laminar
2000<Re<4000 Flow is either laminar or turbulent
Re>4000
Flow is always turbulent

For laminar flow, the frictional head loss was proportional to velocity.
For turbulent flow, the head loss was proportional to the square of the
velocity.

Figure 1 Reynolds Demonstration for the different

kinds of flow

Figure 2 Hydraulic gradient versus flow

velocity

3 - Frictional Loss Along a Pipe

Fluid moving through a pipeline is

subjected to energy losses due to frictional
resistance at the pipe wall

Figure 3 Flow along a uniform pipe

i: hydraulic gradient = slope of the pressure line

Application of Bernoulli equation between section 1 and 2
yields,
P
P
(2)
Z1 1 Z 2 2 h f
g
g
Momentum equation between section 1 and 2 leads to,
(3)
( P P ) A gAL sin PL
1

A : area of cross section

P : wetted perimeter
0 : the boundary shear stress

Rearranging equation 2 and noting that L sin =Z1-Z2

(4)
0 PL
P1 P2
g Z1 Z 2

As
h

Whence
h

P1 P 2
Z
g

or
0 gR

gA
Z

(5)

0 PL
gA

(6)

hf

(7)

gRS f

where R (hydraulic radius) = A/P ( = D/4 for a circular pipe of diameter D).

Rewriting (7):
D hf
0 g
4 L

(8)

Figure 4 Velocity distribution across a pipe

Laminar flow

hf can be obtained theoretically in the form

of the Hagen-Pouiseuille equation:

32 LV
hf
gD 2

Hagen-Pouiseuille
Equation (9)

Turbulent flow
L V2
Darcy-Weisbach
hf
Formula (10)
D 2g
: Dimensionless friction factor

1. Smooth pipes
In the case of turbulent flow experimental work on
smooth pipes by Blasius (1913) yielded the relationship:
0.3164 Blasius equation (11)

Re 0.25

2. Nikuradses experimental results

Nikuradse conducted experiment on pipes which were
artificially roughened by sticking uniform sand grains.
He defined Ks/D as the relative roughness.

Figure 5 Nikuradses experimental results

This figure shows that there are 5 regions of flow, as

follows:

a. Laminar Flow
The relative roughness has no influence on the friction
factor.

64
64

DV Re

(12)

b. Transition from laminar to turbulent flow

An unstable region between Re=2000 and 4000.

Pipe flow normally lies outside this region.

c. Smooth turbulence

The limiting line of turbulent flow, approached by all

values of relative roughness as Re decreases.

d. Transitional turbulence

The region in which varies with both Re and Ks/D.

In practice, most pipe flow lies within this region.

e. Rough turbulence

This region in which remains constant for a given

Ks/D, and is independent of Re.

3. The rough and smooth laws of Van Karman

and Prandtl
Van Karman and Prandtl suggested the
following semi-empirical formulas:
For

smooth pipes
Re
2 log
2 . 51

1
For

rough pipes
1
3 .7 D
2 log
Ks

(13)

(14)

The smooth law is a better fit to the experimental

data than the Blasius equation.

4. The Colebrook-White formula

Colebrook and White studied the effects of non uniform
roughness as found in commercial pipes.
They demonstrated that in the turbulent region, the -Re
curves exhibited a gradual change from smooth to rough
turbulence in contrast to Nikuradses S-shaped curves
for uniform roughness.
They determined an effective roughness size for the
commercial pipes equivalent to Nikuradses results.
Their experimental study leads to the following formula:

ks
2.51
2 log

D
3
.
7

Re

(15)

This formula is
applicable for the
whole range of the
turbulent region for
commercial pipes
using an effective
roughness value
determined
experimentally for
each type of pipe, as
given in Table 1.

Pipe Material

Ks (mm)

Brass, copper,glass,
Perspex
Asbestos, Cement
Wrought iron
Galvanised Iron
Plastic
Bitumen-lined ductile
iron
Spun concrete lined
ductile iron
Slimed concrete sewer

0.003
0.03
0.06
0.15
0.03
0.03
0.03
6.0

Combining the Darcy-Weisbach (10) and

Colebrook-White (15) equations yields an
explicit expression for the velocity V:
Ks

v
V 2 2 gDi log
2.51

D 2 gDi
3.7 D

(16)

The Colebrook-White formula (15) was

first plotted in the form of a -Re diagram
by Moody and hence is generally referred
to as the Moody Diagram.

Due to the implicit form of the Colebrook-White

equation, a number of approximations in explicit
form in have been proposed.
Moody produced the following formulation:
(17)

K 10
0.00551 20000

Re

1/ 3

which gives correct to 5% for 4x103 < Re < 1x107 and Ks/D<0.01.

Barr proposed another explicit formulation for

5.1286
K
2 log s
0.89

3.7 D Re

(18)

For Re>105 this equation provides a solution for I (hf/L) to an accuracy

better than 1%

5. The Hazen Williams formula

Using Colebrook-White formula, Moody diagram; or Barr
formula is simple to apply for single pipeline.
However, for pipes in series, parallel or for the more
general case of pipe networks, it rapidly becomes
impossible to use for hand calculations. For this reason,
simpler empirical formulae are still in use.
0.54
h
(19)

f
0.63
V 0.355CD

or alternatively,

6 . 78 L

L
D 1 .165

hf

V

C

1 . 85

(20)

Where c is a coefficient depending on pipe diameter,

material and age.

Example 1

Crude oil of density 925 kg/m3 and

absolute viscosity 0.065 Ns/m2 at 20C is
pumped through a horizontal pipeline 100
mm in diameter at a rate of 10 l/s.
Determine the head loss in each kilometre
of pipeline.

4 - Resistance to flow in noncircular sections

In order to use the same form of resistance equations

such as Darcy and Colebrook-White, it is convenient to
treat the non-circular sections as an equivalent
hypothetical circular section yielding the same hydraulic
gradient at the same discharge.
The transformation is achieved by expressing the
diameter D in terms of the hydraulic radius R=A/P and
since for circular pipes R=D/4, equations (10) and (15)
become:

hf

LV 2

8 g R (21) and

Ks
2.51v
2 log

14
.
8
R

4
V
R

(22)

5 Local Head Loss

In addition to the spatially continuous head loss due to

friction, local head losses occur at changes of crosssection, at valves and at bends.
These local losses are sometimes referred to as minor
losses since in long pipelines their effect may be small in
relation to the friction loss.
However, the head loss at a control valve has a primary
effect in regulating the discharge in a pipeline.
Local losses occur at pipe bends, junctions, and valves,
etc.
In the case of long pipelines (e.g. several kilometers) the
local losses may be negligible, but for short pipelines,
they may be greater than the frictional losses.

Local losses is given by:

V2
hL K L
2g

(23)

hL : local head loss

KL: constant for a particular fitting.

For sudden enlargement (exit from a tank) an expression may be

derived from KL in terms of area of the pipe.
This result may be extended to the case of a sudden contraction.
For all other cases (bends, valves, junctions, bellmouths, etc) values
of KL must be derived experimentally.

A. Sudden enlargement

Figure 6 Sudden enlargement

Application of the equation of momentum and the

equation of continuity between section 1 and 2 yields

P1 A1 P2 A2 Q(V2 V1 )
Q V1 A1 V2 A2

(24) and (25)

the 2 equations lead to,

P1 P2 V2
(V1 V2 )

g
g

(26)

Bernoulli equation yields,

So,

(V12 V22 ) ( P2 P1 )

hL
2g
g

(V1 V2 ) 2
hL
2g
by using (25) we obtain
2
2

V
A
hL 1 1 1
A2
2g
Whence,

A1

K L 1
A2

(27)
(28)

(29)

(30)

For the case of a pipe discharging into a tank, A2>A1, then KL=1.

B. Sudden Contraction

Figure 7 Sudden contraction

From position 1 to 1 the flow contracts, forming a vena contracta.
Experiments indicate that the contraction of the flow area is
generally about 40%.
If the energy loss from (1) to (1) is assumed to be negligible, then
the remaining head loss occurs in the expansion from (1) to (2).
Since an expansion loss gave rise to (30), that equation may now be
applicable here. As A1=0.6A2 then:

V22
hL 0.44
2g

(31)

Example 2
A uniform pipeline, 5000 m long, 200 mm in diameter and
roughness size 0.03 mm conveys water at 15C between
two reservoirs. The difference in water level between
which is maintained constant at 50 m. In addition to the
2
entry loss of 0.5 V a valve produces a head loss of 10 V 2 .
2g

2g

Determine the steady discharge between the reservoirs

using the Colebrook-White equation and the Moody
diagram. Take = 1.13 x 10-6 m2/s