Tutorial

Head loss in pipelines

Question 1:

A horizontal pipe carrying 0.17 m3/s of water increases suddenly from 11 cm to 23 cm

diameter pipe. Calculate for

i. the head loss due to the sudden enlargement. [hL = 9.6953 m]

ii. the difference in pressure in kN/m2 in the two pipes. [ P1 – P2 = -56.49775 ]

Question 2:

Two tanks A and B are connected by a pipe 2.54 m long. The first 1.778 m has a diameter of
0.0762 m and then it is suddenly reduced to 0.0508 m for the next 0.762 m. The distance of
levels between the tanks is constant at 0.2032 m. f for both pipes is 0.005 and the
contraction coefficient at the sudden change in area is 0.58. Find all the losses of head,
including that at the sharp-edged pipe entry from A in terms of the velocity V 2 and at the exit
of the 0.0508 m pipe and hence find the flow rate in m3/s. [Q = 2.3606x10-3 m3/s]