CHARLES DARWIN UNIVERSITY

ENG247 LOSS COEFFICIENTS IN A PIPE SYSTEM

1.

Introduction

When water flows through a pipe system, head losses occur due to friction with the walls of the
pipe itself, bends in the pipe, contractions and expansions in the pipe, and in any valves. Various
procedures exist for determining the precise amount of head loss in any given pipe component. In
this experiment, you will look at the head losses that occur in different components and determine
whether the results are compatible with the handbook recommendations.
The head loss for a straight-line segment of pipe is given by the Darcy-Weisbach equation:
hL = f

L v2
D 2g

(1)

In this expression, L is the pipe length and D is its diameter. The average water velocity is v while g
is the local value of gravity. The friction factor, f, is a function of the flow Reynolds number
and the relative roughness (/D). This can be read from the Moody diagram. The specifics of the
calculation to evaluate f will depend on whether the flow is laminar or turbulent and this will
depend on the Reynolds number. The Reynolds number for water flowing down a pipe of length L
and diameter D is

Re =

vD

(2)

For turbulent flow one can determine the friction factor from the Moody diagram while for laminar
flow one can write f = 64/Re.
For other pipe components, one typically expresses the head loss in terms of a loss coefficient, KL
e.g.
hL = K L

v2
2g

(3)

The loss coefficients for many typical pipe system have been determined by experiment. For globe
and gate valves one has

Open
open
open
open

Gate valve
0.2
0.9
5.0
24.0

Globe valve
10
11
12.5
50

For a sudden expansion one has

2

A
K L = 1 1
(4)
A2
where A1 is the area in the narrow part of the pipe. When calculating the head loss one would use
the velocity before the contraction.
For a sudden contraction, one reads the loss coefficient from the graph. From the graph, the head
los is computed using the velocity after the contraction.

The loss coefficient for a standard 90o elbow is KL = 0.9

The loss coefficient for a bend depends on the radius of the pipe and the radius of the bend. Results
are usually present in diagram form

2.

The apparatus

The apparatus consists of a board with two different pipe circuits mounted on the board. One of the
circuits is painted red and the other circuit is painted blue. There are (numbered) pressure taps
connected to water and mercury manometers inserted into the pipe at various locations. The pipe
systems contain various components such as bends, valves, elbows and expansion/contractions. A
photograph of the board is shown below. The various components of the circuits are labelled on
the board itself.

The entrance to the circuit is the outlet connected to the blue pipe on the left. The exit to the circuit
is the outlet connected to the red circuit on the left.

The Blue circuit consists of:

a gate valve

a standard elbow bend

a 90 degree mitre bend, and a

straight line segment of pipe

The Red circuit consists of:

50.8 mm radius smooth bend

100 mm radius smooth bend
152 mm radius smooth bend
Sudden expansion,
Sudden contraction

a standard elbow bend

A globe valve

straight line segment of pipe

Some of the pipe system characteristics

Pipe Internal Diameter
Pipe material
Distance between pressure tappings (straight pipe)
Bend Radii
Sharp 90 Degree mitre
Proprietary Elbow 90 Degree
Smooth 90 Degree Bend
Smooth 90 Degree Bend
Smooth 90 Degree Bend

17.0 mm
Copper tubing
925 mm
0.0 mm
19 mm
50 mm
100mm
150mm

Diameters
Expansion
Contraction

17/35.7 mm
35.7/17 mm

The straight length equivalent, measured for each fitting:

Mitre elbow
Proprietary Bend
50 mm bend
100mm bend
150mm bend
straight length

850 mm
915 mm
730 mm
940 mm
900 mm
925 mm

3.

Measurement Procedure

You will take a number of measurements of the pressure differences before and after a number of
components of the pipe system. Do not interrupt the flow through the apparatus by totally closing
any of the valves or turning off the pump on the hydraulic bench. The procedure is as follows

Start up the pump on the hydraulic bench with the supply valve closed.
Ensure the globe valve is fully open and the gate valve is fully open. We want to take
measurements for some elements of the red circuit

With the hydraulic bench supplying water at its maximum flow rate, determine manometer
readings before and after the following components; the sudden contraction, the sudden
expansion and the 50 mm bend. You should also measure the flow rate.
Measure the pressure differences for 6 other flow rates. When choosing flow rates, keep in
mind that the pressure difference is typically proportional to the square of the flow rate.

The Blue circuit consists of:

a gate valve

a standard elbow bend

a 90 degree mitre bend, and a

straight line segment of pipe

4.

flow rate.

Analysis

For each system component, plot the head loss as derived from Piezo-tube measurements against
(v2/2g).
Can your data be represented as a straight line?
Determine the slope of your curves. Are the gradients compatible with expected results from
Tables of loss coefficients?
For the 50 mm bend, you need to take into consideration the head loss due to the straight-line
segments of the pipe as well as the head loss from the bend itself. This will require you to
determine the Reynolds number, the roughness ratio, and then use the Moody diagram to determine
the Friction factor (you might refer to the laboratory notes for the experiment on major friction
losses in a narrow pipe.