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Equivalent Lengths

When the equivalent length method is used to account for valve and fitting losses, the valve/fitting loss is expressed as a length
which is added to the actual pipeline length. When the equivalent length is substituted into the Darcy-Weisbach equation, the loss
due to the valve/fitting is as follows:

hL(VF) = f(Le/D)v²/2g (equation 1)

where, hL(VF) = valve/fitting head loss

f = friction factor
Le = equivalent length
v = fluid velocity
D = pipe diameter
g = gravitational constant

Many engineering handbooks contain tables of equivalent lengths.

When the loss coefficient (or K value) method is used, the K value is multiplied by the velocity head to give the valve/fitting head
loss:

hL(vf) = Kv²/2g (equation 2)

From equations 1 and 2 it can be seen that:

K = f(Le/D) (equation 3)

To demonstrate that the two methods give similar results, we will compare two systems.Both of the systems have 100 feet long, 4
inch diameter pipes. Each pipeline has three long radius 90° elbows, one globe valve, and one swing check valve.

The first pipeline (Pipe01) uses loss coefficients which are obtained from the standard valve and fitting table shipped with
PIPE-FLO. The total K value for all three valves/fittings is 7.856. The second pipeline (Pipe02) uses equivalent lengths obtained
from the table below:

Valve/Fitting Pipe Size (in) Equivalent Length (ft) Quantity Total Length (ft)
Long Radius 90° Elbow 4 4.6 3 13.8
Globe Valve, open 4 110 1 110
Swing Check Valve 4 38 1 38
Total Valve/Fitting Equivalent Length = 161.8 ft

For Pipe02, the total equivalent length of 161.8 ft is added to the pipeline length of 100 ft to give an overall length of 261.8 ft.

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As expected, when the calculations are performed for these two pipelines, their results are not identical but they are reasonably
close (for a flow rate of 200 US gpm, Pipe01 has a pressure drop of 2.321 psi and Pipe02 has a pressure drop of 2.572 psi).

One benefit to using valves and fittings, instead of the equivalent length, is that the length listed for a pipeline in the printed reports
will be the actual length.Another advantage in using the loss coefficients in PIPE-FLO is that when you view the pipeline in the
Graph Window the head loss due to the valves/fittings (the minor loss) is graphed along with the total pipeline loss.

Reynolds Number

Total Pipe dP

Valves and Fittings dP

If you have equivalent length data and you would rather use loss coefficients, you can calculate the corresponding K values using
equation 3. You can then enter the calculated K values as Fixed K's in the Valve & Fittings tab. If you have a number of
valves/fittings for which you have equivalent length data, you can calculate the corresponding K values and then create your own
valve/fitting table.

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