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Ta g : So nic Ve l oc it y

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COMPRESSIBLE FLUID FLOW

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Flow of compressible fluid like vapors and gases through pipe is a ected by changing conditions of pressure, temperature
and physical properties. General relation for evaluating such flow is given by following equation in English units.

where, f is Darcy’s friction factor, L is pipe length ( ), D is pipe diameter ( ), ρ is fluid density (lb/ ³), A is pipe cross-
sectional area ( ²), g is constant 32.174 /sec², P is pressure in psi and Ws is gas flow (lbm/sec). Subscript 1 denotes
conditions at pipe inlet and 2 denotes at pipe outlet.

Friction factor is determined based on Reynolds’s number (Re).

Re = D V ρ / μ

where, µ is fluid viscosity.

For Re < 2100, flow is laminar and friction factor is calculated as following.

f = 64 / Re

For Re > 4000, flow is turbulent and friction factor is obtained by solving Colebrook White equation.

Sonic Velocity
The maximum possible velocity of a compressible fluid in a pipe is called sonic velocity.

Vs = 68.1 [ (Cp/Cv) P/ρ]0.5

where, Cp/Cv is gas specific heat ratio, P is pressure in psi, ρ is density in lb/ ³ and Vs is sonic velocity in feet/sec.

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sonic velocity – ChE Guide https://cheguide.com/tag/sonic-velocity/

Mach Number
The Mach number is the velocity of the gas divided by the sonic velocity in gas.

Ma = V/ Vs

where V is gas velocity in pipe and Vs is the sonic velocity.

Erosional Velocity
Erosional velocity is maximum allowable gas velocity in a pipeline, as gas velocity increases, vibration and noise increases.
Erosional velocity can be estimated as following.

Vmax = 100 / ρ0.5

where ρ is gas density in lb/ ³ and Vmax is erosional velocity in /sec.

Spreadsheet for compressible fluid flow (https://cheguide.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08

/compressible_fluid_sizing.xlsx)

References
1. Pressure drop in pipeline at PetroWiki (http://petrowiki.org/Pressure_drop_evaluation_along_pipelines)
2. Ludwig’s Applied Process Design, Volume 1, 4th Edition

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