Advanced Fluid Mechanics

Chapter 7
Pipe flow Theories

Lecture by
Engr. Sohail Ahmed
Frictional Head Loss in
Conduits
• Consider steady flow in a conduit of uniform cross section
‘A’ (as in Fig)
• If pressures acting at sections ‘1’ and ‘2’, distance ‘L’
apart are p1 and p2.
• Then for equilibrium in steady state, summation of forces
acting on any fluid element must be ‘zero’ i.e. ∑F = ma = 0

p1 A − p 2 A − LAsin  −  0 (PL ) = 0
(1)
• Where,  0 is the shear stress (average shear force per
unit area) at the conduit wall, and is given by
P

 0 dP
 0 = 0

P
• where  0 is the local shear stress acting on small
differential portion dP of the wetted perimeter.

• Local shear stress normally varies from point to

point along the perimeter of all
conduits irrespective of the smoothness of the
wall

• For a circular pipe flowing full, shear stress

at the wall is the same at all points on
the perimeter.
• Dividing (1) by A

p1 p 2 − ALsin  PL
− = 0
  A A (2)
Also
z 2 − z1
sin  =
L

p1 p 0L
− 2
− z 2 + z1 = (3)
  R h
This equation is applicable to any shape of
uniform cross section regardless of whether the
flow is laminar or turbulent .
For the case of pipe flow, the average fluid shear
stress  0 at the wall is a function of ρ, μ and V
and some linear dimension, which can be
hydraulic radius Rh. Then,

 0 = f ( , ,V , Rh ) (6)
For a circular pipe flowing full,

Rh = D / 4

Putting this in (11)and (12), a relation for pipe –frictional

head loss and energy gradient can be obtained

2
L V
h f = f (13) Circular pipe flowing full (laminar
or turbulent)
D 2g

2
hf
S = =
f V (14) where f = 4C f = 8 (R)
L D 2g
(14) Is known as Darcy-Weisbach equation
or pipe friction equation
‘f’ is the frictional factor also called Darcy
friction factor (further details will be studied
under the topic of pipe roughness)
For a circular pipe flowing full,
R h = r0 / 2

Where, r0 is the radius of the pipe

Then (5) can be written as
L 2 0 L
hf =0 =
Rh r0  (15)

Because of symmetry, local shear stress at

the wall  0 equals the average shear
stress  0
Following the development similar to that of
Eqs (1) to (6), for a cylindrical fluid body of
radius ‘r’ concentric with the pipe, with
A = r 2 and P = 2r then

2L
hf = (16) where
r

 is the shear stress in the fluid at radius

r.
As h f remains the same for all values of r,
then relating (15) and (16), shear stress in
the flow in a circular pipe at any radius r is
r
 =0 (17)
r0

Thus it can be said that the shear stress is

zero at the centre of the pipe and
increases linearly with the radius to max.
of  0 at the wall (shown in Figure)
 From (5) and (13),
Substituting Rh = D / 4 for a circular pipe
2 2
0 = f  V = f  V (18)
4 2 4 2g

The above equation can be used for the

computation of  0 for flow in a circular pipe
for any experimentally determined value of
f
Friction in noncircular conduits
• Mostly the conduits used in engineering practice are
of circular cross sections

• Equations studied in the previous topic can therefore be

modified for application to non-circular cross sections
using the concept of hydraulic radius.

• As circular pipes are common, most of the equations

use diameter D instead of hydraulic radius Rh as linear
dimension
• So for a circular pipe flowing full,
(19)
Rh = D / 4  D = 4Rh
This can also be called the equivalent diameter.
Substituting this in (13)

L V 2
h f = f (20)
4R h 2g
Then the relation for Reynold’s number will take the form

V 4 R
R = h
(21)

Background to Pipe Flow Theory
To explain the various pipe flow theories we will follow the historical development
of the subject
Laminar flow in circular pipes
As per Newton’s law of viscosity,

du
 =  (22)
dy

Where u is the velocity at a distance y from the boundary.

If an element of fluid annular in shape at a distance r from
the centre line is considered, with thickness dr then
du
 = −
dr (23)
Where negative sign shows that u decreases as r
increases
• The coefficient of viscosity  is normally constant for
any particular fluid at constant temperature

So if shear stress varies from zero at the centre of the

pipe to maximum at the pipe wall, the velocity will be
maximum at the centre and zero at the wall.

•For laminar flow in a circular pipe, substituting (23) into

(16)

du 2 L
h = − (24)
dr r 
f
 hf 
du = − r dr (25)
2L

Integrating (25) and determining the constant of integration

from the fact that u = umax, when r = 0,
Then

hf  (26)
u = umax − r 2 = umax − kr 2
4L
So it can be concluded that velocity profile is a parabola.
Also h f
k =
4L
At the wall where r = r0, u = 0 and umax = Vc (centerline
velocity) then

k = Vc / r
2
0

(26) can then be written as

Combining (26) and (27), the expression for centerline
velocity can be written as

Hagen-Poiseuille Equation
Assignment#1
1. Derive the relation (Hagen-Poiseulle Law) for the
head loss due to friction in Laminar flow case in pipes.
Also prove that mean velocity V is half of the
maximum velocity for laminar flow case.

Hint: consider a fluid element at a distance ‘r’ from the

center of the pipe. Let ‘dr’ be its thickness and ‘dA’ be its
area.
2. Prove that the frictional factor ‘f’ for laminar
flow under pressure in a
circular pipe is given by f = 64 / R
3. For the case of laminar flow in pipe, at what
distance from the centerline (in terms of pipe radius)
does the mean velocity occur.

4. An oil with kinematic viscosity 0.004ft2/sec weighs 62

lb/ft3. Determine its flow rate and head loss in a
2750-ft length pipe of 3inch diameter when Reynolds no.
is 950.
 Turbulent Flow
Since the shearing action in laminar flows is well understood, equations
describing the flow were easily determined. In turbulent flows there is no
simple description of the shear forces that act in the fluid. Therefore the
solutions of problems involving turbulent flows usually involve experimental
results
In his work, Reynolds clarified two previous results found
experimentally:
• Hagen and Poiseuille found that friction head loss is proportional to the
mean velocity:

Reynolds found that this only applies to laminar flows.

• Darcy and Weisbach found that friction head loss is proportional to the
mean velocity squared:

Reynolds found that this applies to turbulent flows.

 Empirical Head Loss in Turbulent Flow

• This is known as the Darcy-Weisbach Equation

• In this equation, λ is known as the pipe friction factor and is
sometimes referred to as f in American practice.
• It was once thought to be constant but is now known to change
depending on the Reynolds number and the ‘roughness’ of the
pipe surface k/D, which is the ratio of mean height of
roughness of pipe to pipe diameter
• The functional form of this dependence cannot be obtained
from a theoretical analysis,
• experiments using artificially roughened surfaces (usually by
gluing sand grains of a known size on the inner surfaces of the
pipes).
 Pipe Friction Factor
Many experiments have been performed to determine the pipe friction
factor for many different arrangements of pipes and flows.
Laminar Flow
We can just equate the Hagen-Poiseuille and the Darcy-Weisbach Equations:

Hence, for laminar flow we have:

Smooth Pipes – Blasius Equation

 Nikuradse’s Experiments

Nikuradse found the friction becomes smaller as the speed

gets larger, but then increases at high speeds before
attaining a constant value.
There are 5 regions of flow in the diagram:

1. Laminar Flow – as before; f = 64/Re

2. Transitional flow – as before, but no clear λ ;
3. Smooth turbulence – a limiting line of turbulence as Re
decreases for all k/D;
4. Transitional turbulence – λ varies both with Re and s k D, most
pipe flows are in
this region;
5. Rough turbulence - λ is constant for a given k/D and is
independent of Re.
The Colebrook-White Transition Formula
The friction factors thus far are the result of experiments on
artificially roughened pipes. Commercial pipes have roughnesses
that are uneven in both size and spacing.
❖ Colebrook and White did two things:
❖ They carried out experiments and matched commercial pipes
up to Nikuradse’s results by finding an ‘effective roughness’
for the commercial pipes:
❖ They combined the available data for transition and
turbulent flow in smooth as well as rough pipes into the following
implicit

This equation is known as the Colebrook-White transition

formula and it gives results very close to experimental values
for transitional behaviour when using effective roughnesses for
commercial pipes.

Note: The transition formula must be solved by trial and error

and is not expressed in terms of the preferred variables of
diameter, discharge and hydraulic gradient. Hence it was not
used much initially
 Moody Chart
Moody recognized the problems with the Colebrok-White
transition formula and did
two things to remove objections to its use:

1. He presented an approximation to the Colebrook-White

formula:

He plotted λ against log Re for commercial pipes, this is now

known as the Moody diagram:
Moody Chart
 Observations from the Moody chart
• For laminar flow, the friction factor decreases with increasing Reynolds
number, and it is independent of surface roughness.
• The friction factor is a minimum for a smooth pipe and increases with
roughness. The Colebrook equation in this case ( = 0) reduces to the
Prandtl equation.

• The transition region from the laminar to turbulent regime is indicated by the
shaded area in the Moody chart. At small relative roughnesses, the friction
factor increases in the transition region and approaches the value for
smooth pipes.
• At very large Reynolds numbers (to the right of the dashed line on the
Moody chart) the friction factor curves corresponding to specified relative
roughness curves are nearly horizontal, and thus the friction factors are
independent of the Reynolds number. The flow in that region is called fully
rough turbulent flow or just fully rough flow, The Colebrook equation in the
49
fully rough zone reduces to the von Kármán equation.
 In calculations, we should
make sure that we use the
actual internal diameter of
the pipe, which may be
different than the nominal
diameter.

At very large Reynolds numbers, the friction factor

curves on the Moody chart are nearly horizontal, and
thus the friction factors are independent of the
Reynolds number.

38
The Moody
Chart and
the Colebrook equation (for smooth and rough pipes)
Colebrook The friction factor in fully developed turbulent pipe flow depends on
the Reynolds number and the relative roughness  /D.
Equation

Explicit
Haaland
equation

The friction
factor is
minimum for
a smooth
pipe and
increases
with
35
roughness.
 Barr
One last approximation to the Colebrook-White formula is that by
Barr, who substituted the following approximation for the smooth
law component
 Example Problem

A plastic pipe, 10 km long and 300 mm diameter, conveys water

from a reservoir (water level 850 m above datum) to a water
treatment plant (inlet level 700 m above datum). Assuming the
reservoir remains full, estimate the discharge using the following
methods:
1. the Colebrook-White formula;
2. the Moody diagram;
3. HRS Charts
Take the kinematic viscosity to be 1.13×10−6 m2/s .
Assignment 2