What is the pressure at the end of a pipe which is discharging to

atmosphere?

Discharging to atmosphere is a particular case of the discharge to a large volume where the
pressure is fixed and the discharging gas will decelerate to zero velocity.

Incompressible fluid

The loss coefficient for a liquid flowing through an abrupt expansion into a large volume has
been found to be 1.0. (Crane, ref 5). The loss coefficient is defined as the number of velocity
heads which are lost in the transition. Losing a whole velocity head means that the entire
kinetic energy is dissipated in the exit loss and that none is recovered into pressure by the
deceleration in accordance with the Bernoulli principle.

Sub-sonic flow of a compressible fluid

Benedict et al (ref 16) found that except at low velocity the incompressible loss coefficients do
not apply to compressible flow through enlargements and contractions. They found that the
losses are best described in terms of change in

For an abrupt expansion into a large volume they found that reduction in stagnation pressure
is such that the pressure in the large volume (which is by definition also a stagnation
pressure) is the same as the flowing pressure at the end of the pipe. In other words, the
losses exactly cancel the pressure recovery that would be achieved by the deceleration in
accordance with the Bernoulli principle.

This is analogous to the incompressible flow losses.

In terms of measured pressures then, there is no pressure difference between the tip of the
pipe and the downstream large volume.

Sonic flow of a compressible fluid

When there is a sonic choke at the end of the pipe, the pressure at the end of the pipe is just
high enough to allow the mass flow to pass through the cross-sectional area of the pipe. It
sounds obvious, but it can be a surprisingly difficult concept to grasp, with people making
unsupported reference to it being necessary to have a pressure ratio greater than 2 to
achieve sonic flow.

mass flow rate = cross-sectional area x velocity x density

The area is fixed. The velocity is constrained in that it cannot be higher than the sonic
velocity. Although sonic velocity is a function of temperature, density is the parameter which
gives complete freedom. It is a function of pressure and temperature and by having a high
enough pressure, any mass flow can be realised. "You could blow down the planet Jupiter
through a six inch pipe" (Ref Duxbury, private communication, 1992)

For sonic flow, the velocity at the end of the pipe is sonic velocity and the pressure is
whatever is required to achieve the mass flow rate. The difference in pressure is dissipated in
sonic shock waves as the gas leaves the pipe.

For an ideal gas sonic velocity and density are simple functions.

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So, for a given mass flow rate, the two remaining unknowns are pressure and temperature.
They can be found by solving simultaneously with an energy balance equation.

For a real gas, there is no equation for sonic velocity. The problem can only be solved by
searching for a pressure and temperature combination which satisfies the energy balance and
for which flow is possible.

Sub-sonic flow of a compressible fluid : Limiting case

There is obviously a limiting case between the sub-sonic cases and the sonic cases. The
figure "Choked flow into a vessel", illustrates this:

- If the mass flow is steadily increased, the velocity just inside the pipe tip will steadily
increase. The losses will be such that the flowing pressure is equal to the stagnation pressure
in the downstream large volume.
- When sonic velocity is just reached, the flowing pressure will still be same as the pressure in
the downstream large volume.
- Further increasing the mass flow rate brings the tip pressure up above the pressure in the
downstream large volume.

It is therefore just possible to have sonic flow with no difference between the measured
pressures across the tip.

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