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CHEMICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAMME

FRICTION LOSS ALONG A PIPE

SAFETY REGULATIONS AND GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS

Students performing experimental work in the Engineering laboratory must follow and
abide by the following safety regulations and guidelines. Students must complete a safety
declaration form before they are allowed to work in the laboratory.

GENERAL

 Students are not allowed to enter the laboratory without the permission of the lecturer
or laboratory assistant.
 Unauthorized experimental work in the laboratory is strictly
forbidden.
 Prior to the use of laboratory out of timetabled periods, students must apply for usage
from relevant laboratory staff.
 Students are not allowed to work alone in the laboratory.
 Bags and books must not be left on benches or on stools and should be placed
in designated area. Do not block passageways or fire exits.
 All working spaces must always be kept clean.
 Long hair, ties, jewellery and clothing must never be allowed to hang loose, since any
of these items can easily become entangled in the moving parts of machinery, and hence
cause serious injury.
 Suitable clothing must be worn; long trousers or jeans are recommended for boys
and dresses, slacks or jeans for girls. In particular, sleeveless t-shirts and sleeveless
blouses are prohibited.
 Students must wear covered footwear during laboratory and workshop sessions.
Sandals, open-toed shoes, slippers or similar footwear are prohibited. Students may
be refused entry to the laboratory or workshop if not in proper footwear.
 Storage and/or consumption of food and drink, smoking and the application of
cosmetics in the laboratory are not allowed.
 Indiscipline in the laboratory or workshop (e.g. whistling, horseplay etc.) will not
be tolerated.
 No reagent, solution or apparatus is to be removed from the laboratory without
approval from the lecturer.
 Do not pour waste down the sink unless authorized to do so by your
lecturer.
 Defective equipment or broken glassware must be reported to the lecturer or lab
assistant.
 Do not run in the laboratory or along corridors. Exercise care when opening and
closing doors on entering and leaving the laboratory.
 Laboratory doors must be kept closed at all times during practical
classes.

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SAFETY NOTE (ENERGY & FLUIDS LAB)

Glasswares should be handled with care.

OBJECTIVES

To demonstrate the change in the law of resistance (the relationship between i and u) and to
establish the critical R.

CHEMICALS AND APPARATUS

Stop Watch.
Volumetric Hydraulic Bench
Friction Loss along a pipe
Measuring Cylinders

INTRODUCTION

The frictional resistance to which fluid is subjected as it flows along a pipe results in a
continuous loss of energy or total head of the fluid. Figure 1 illustrates this in a simple case;
the difference in levels between piezometers A and B represents the total head loss h in the
length of l of pipe. In hydraulic engineering it is customary to refer to the rate of loss of total
head along the pipe, dh/dl , by the term hydraulic gradient, denoted by the symbol i , such
that:

dh
i (1)
dl

Figure 1: Diagram illustrating the hydraulic gradient.

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Osborne Reynolds, in 1883, recorded a number of experiments to determine the laws of

resistance in pipes. By introducing a filament of dye into the flow of water along a glass pipe
he showed the existence of two different types of motion. At low velocities the filament
appeared as a straight line which passed down the whole length of the tube indicating laminar
flow. At higher velocities, the filament, after passing a little way along the tube, suddenly
mixed with the surrounding water, indicating that the motion had now become turbulent.
Experiment with pipes of different diameters and with water at different temperature led
Reynolds to conclude that the parameter which determines whether the flow shall be laminar
or turbulent in any particular case is:

uD
R (2)


in which R denotes the Reynolds Number of the motion.

 denotes the density of the fluid
u denotes the velocity of flow
D denotes the diameter of the pipe
 denotes the coefficient of viscosity of the fluid

This motion is laminar or turbulent, that is according to the value to R which is less than or
greater than a certain critical value. If experiments are made with increasing rates of flow,
this value of R depends on the degree of care which is taken to eliminate disturbances in the
supply and along the pipe. On the other hand, if experiments are made with decreasing flow,
transition from turbulent to laminar flow takes place at a value of R which is very much less
dependent on initial disturbances. This value of R is about 2000, and below this the flow
becomes laminar sufficiently downstream of any disturbance, no matter how severe it is.

Different laws of resistance apply to laminar and to turbulent flow. For a given fluid flowing
along a given pipe, experiments show that:

for laminar motion i  u (3)

for turbulent motion i  un (4)

n being an index which lies between 1.7 and 2.0 (depending on the value of R and on the
roughness of the wall of the pipe). Equation 3 is in accordance with Poiseuille's equation
which can be written in the form:

32 u
i (5)
gD 2

There is no similar simple result for turbulent flow: in engineering practice it is customary to
use Darcy's equation:
4 fu 2
i (6)
D2g

in which f denotes an experimentally determined factor which varies with R and pipe
roughness.

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Measurements of i in the laminar region is used to find the coefficient of viscosity and
measurements in the turbulent region is used to find the friction factor f. Compare the
friction factor obtained from the experiment with the Blasius's equation.

DESCRIPTION

Figure 2: DiagraMmatic Arrangement of Apparatus for Measuring Friction Loss

Along a Pipe.

Figure 2 shows the arrangement in which water from a supply tank is led through a flexible
hose to the bell-mouthed entrance to a straight tube along which the frictional loss is
measured. Piezometer tapping are made at an upstream section which lies approximately 45
tube diameters away from the pipe entrance, and at a downstream section which lies
approximately 40 tube diameters away from the pipe exit. These clear lengths upstream and
downstream of the test section are required to prevent the results form being affected by
disturbances near the entrance and exit of the pipe. The piezometer tapping are connected to
an inverted U-tube manometer, which reads the differential pressure directly in mm of water,
or a U-tube which reads in mm of mercury.

The rate of flow along the pipe is controlled by a needle valve at the pipe exit, and is
measured by timing the collection of water in a measuring cylinder (the discharge being so
small as to make the use of the Hydraulic Bench weighing tank impracticable).

BACKGROUND
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Derivation of Poiseuille's Equation.

Figure 3: Derivation of Poiseuille's Equation.

To derive Poiseuille's equation which applied to laminar flow along a tube, consider the
motion indicated on Figure 3. Over each cross-section of the tube the piezometric pressure is
constant, and this pressure falls continuously along the tube. Suppose that between cross-
section A and B separated by length l of the tube, the fall in pressure is p. Then the force
exerted by this pressure difference on the ends of a cylinder having radius r, and its axis on
the centre line of the tube, is pr2. Over any cross-section of the tube, the velocity varies with
radius, having a maximum value of uo at the centre and falling to zero at the wall; let the
velocity at radius r in any cross-section be denoted by u r . Then the shear stress  , in the
direction shown on Figure 3, due to viscous action on the curved surface of the cylinder, is
given by:
du
  r (7)
dr

dur
(Note that is negative so that the stress acts in the direction shown in Figure 3). The
dr
dur
force on the cylinder due to this stress is .2rl . Since the fluid is in steady motion
dr
under the action of the sum of pressure and viscous forces;

dur
p.r 2   2rl  0
dr

dur pr
Therefore:  (8)
dr 2l

ur = 0 when r = a

ur 
p
4l

a2  r 2  (9)

This result shows that the velocity distribution across a section is parabolic, as indicated on
Figure 3, and that the velocity on the centre line, given by putting r = 0 in Equation 9 is

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pa 2
uo  (10)
4l

The discharge rate Q may now be calculated. The flow rate Q through an annulus of radius r
and width r is

Q  ur 2rr

Inserting ur from Equation 9 and integrating

Q
p
4l
a
 
2  a 2 r  r 3 dr
0

ppa 4
Therefore Q (11)
8l

Now the mean velocity u over the cross section is, by definition, given by:

Q  u.a 2 (12)

and eliminating Q between equation 11 and 12 gives:

pa 2 pD 2
u  (13)
8l 32l

which may be written in the form:

32 u
i (5)
gD 2

by use of the substitutions: gh = p

h
and i
l

Derivation of Darcy's Equation

If the flow is turbulent, the analysis given above is invalidated by the continuous mixing
process which takes place. Across the curved surface of the cylinder having radius r in Figure
3, this mixing is manifest as a continuous unsteady and random flow into and out of the
cylinder, so that the apparent shear stress on this surface is greater than the value given in
Equation 7. Because of the mixing the distribution of velocity over a cross section is more
uniform than the parabolic shape deduced for laminar flow, as indicated on Figure 4.

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Figure 4: Derivation of Darcy's Equation.

Although it is not possible to perform a complete analysis for turbulent flow, a useful result
may be obtained by considering the whole cross section as shown in Figure 4. It is reasonable
to suppose that the shear stress  o on the wall of the tube will depend on the mean velocity
u; let us assume for the present that:

 o  f .1 / 2 u 2 (14)

in which 1/2u2 denotes the dynamic pressure corresponding to the mean velocity u, and f
is a friction factor (not necessarily constant). Since o and 1/2u2 each have dimensions of
force per unit area, f is dimensionless. The force on a cylinder of length l due to this stress
is f .1 / 2 u 2 .2al and the force due to the fall in pressure is p.a2, so that:

p.a 2  f .1 / 2 u 2 .2al

Substituting: gh  p

h l i

D
and a
2

4 f u2
leads to the result i . (6)
D 2g

which is a form of Darcy's equation.

The friction factor f which occurs in this equation was defined by equation 14 and is not
necessarily constant. The results of many experiments show that f does, in fact, depend on
both R, the Reynolds Number, and on the roughness of the pipe wall. At a given value of R, f
increase with increasing surface roughness. For a given surface roughness, f generally
decreases slowly with increasing R. This means that if R is increased by increasing u along a
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given pipe, f will decrease slowly with increasing u, so that the product fu 2 on which i
depend in equation will increase somewhat less than u2. In fact, over a fairly wide range, it is
often possible to represent the variation of i with u by the approximation:

i  ku n

where k and n are constant for a given fluid flowing along a given pipe, n having a value
between 1.7 and 2.0.

The friction factor equation which was proposed by Blasius for turbulent flow in smooth pipe
is expressed as:

f  0.079 R 0.25

Notes: 1) The height of the water level in the manometer may be raised to a suitable value by
allowing air to escape through the air valve at the top, or by pumping air through the
valve.

2) Due to the large range of head differences, the readings should be recorded in two
sets. Those for lower velocity flow rates, with the water manometer, and those for
high velocity with the mercury manometer.

Design and perform an experiment to cater for the aims of the experiment. It should be noted
that two types of flow regimes will be apparent and as such, readings should comfortably
cover the whole of the laminar region and the transition to turbulent flow. Present the results
obtained in an appropriate format accounting for any errors (if suitable).

Useful Data
Length of pipe between piezometer tapping, I = 524 mm
Nominal diameter of pipe, D = 3 mm
Cross-section area of pipe = 7.06 mm2

REFERENCES

1. Mechanics of Fluids. Massey, BS, Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1989

2. Fluid Mechanics, White F M, McGraw-Hill, 3rd Ed. 1994
3. An Album of Fluid Motion, Van Dyke M. Parabolic Press, 1982.
4. Chemical Engineering Volume 1, Coulson & Richardson, Butterworth-Heinemann