PIPELINE SYSTEMS

Pipes in Series and Equivalent Pipes

 Pipes A and B are connected in series, pipe C is the

equivalent of them.
hLA  hLB  hLC
Q A  QB  QC  Q
8Q2 fcLc 8Q2 fAL A 8Q2 fBLB
  2 5
g Dc
2 5
g DA
2 5
g DB

fc L c f A L A fBL B fc, Lc, Dc are the equivalent friction

5
 5  5
Dc DA DB factor, equivalent pipe length, and
equivalent diameter, respectively.
 if fA=fB=fc=, then

LC L A LB
5
 5  5
DC DA DB

 Generalizing for n pipes in series:

Leq n Li
5
 5
Deq i1Di

 Minor losses may be expressed as equivalent lengths

and added to the actual lengths of pipe:
Leq V 2 V2 Km D
f  Km Leq 
D 2g 2g f
Pipes in Parallel
Consider the parallel piping arrangement shown below
Pipes in Parallel and Equivalent Pipes

Parallel pipes A and B Pipe C is the

equivalent
hL12  hLA  hLB

Q  QA  QB
5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2
 hLAgDA 
2
 hLBg
2
DB 
QA   
 and  QB   
 8fAL A  
 8fBLB 
 5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2
 hLCg DC 
2
 hLAg 2
DA   hLBg
2
DB 
       
 8f L   
 C C   8fAL A   8fBLB 

1/ 2 1/ 2 1/ 2
 D5c  D5A DB5 
       
f L  f L  f L 
 C C  A A  B B

 if fA=fB=fC, then

5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2
 Dc   DA   DB 
      
L   
 C  LA   LB 
5 1/ 2 5 1/ 2
 Deq  n  Di 
 Generalizing for n pipes in parallel:       
L  i 1  Li 
 eq 
Exp
 Consider the three-pipe series system as shown
below. The total pressure drop is pA-pB = 150 kPa,
and the elevation drop is zA-zB = 5 m. The pipe data
are Pipe L (m) D (cm)  (mm)
1 100 8 0.24
2 150 6 0.12
3 80 4 0.20

The fluid is water (= 1000 kg/m3, = 1.02x10-6 m2/s).

Calculate the flow rate Q (m3/hr). Neglect minor
losses.
Exp
 Assume that the same three pipes of previous
example are now in parallel with the same total loss
of 20.3 m. Compute the total rate Q(m3/hr),
neglecting the minor losses.

L1= 100 m

L2= 150 m

L3= 80 m
 Branching pipes, junctions
A branching network is illustrated below.
 Determination of the discharges and flow directions:
All flows are considered as
negative towards the junction!
QA + QB + QC = 0
This implies that one or two of the
J flows must be outgoing from
junction!

The pressure must change through each pipe to provide the

same piezometric head at the junction. In other words, let the
HGL at the junction has the elevation:

 pJ 
hJ    z J 
  
 Solution Procedure
1. Guess a value for hJ.

2. Determine f for each pipe.

J
3. Solve the equations for VA,
VB & VC and hence for QA,
QB & QC.
LA VA2
hf A  fA  HA  HJ
DA 2 g 4. Iterate computations until
LB VB2 flow rate balance at the
hf B  fB  HB  HJ
DB 2 g junction QA+QB+QC=0

If QA+QB+QC >0, hJ is too

high, reduce hJ and vice
versa.
Exp
 Find the flow rates in each pipe, neglecting minor
losses (ν = 1.02 x 10-6 m2/s).