Branching Pipes

• For convenience, let us consider three pipes connected

to three reservoirs as in Fig. 8.27 and connected
together or branching at the common junction point J.
• Actually, we can consider that any of the pipes is
connected to some other destination than a reservoir by
simply replacing the reservoir with a piezometer tube in
which the water level is the same as the reservoir
surface.
• We shall suppose that all the pipes are sufficiently long
that we can neglect minor losses and velocity heads, so
hL = hf which we shall designate as h.
Assumptions
 All pipes are sufficiently long

 Minor head losses and velocity head can be

neglected
hL  h f
 Continuity and energy equations require that flow
entering the junction equals the flow leaving it
 Pressure head at J is common to all pipes (P is
common to all)

Q  0 Q in   Qout

Q1  Q2  Q3
 Elevation of P must lie between the surfaces of
reservoirs A and C.
 h2 and Q2 will be zero if P is at the same elevation
as reservoir B.
 If P is above level of B then water must flow into B
and
Q1  Q2  Q3
 If P is below the level of B then flow must be out of
B and

Q1  Q2  Q3
Case 1

Given:
all pipe lengths
all pipe diameters
surface elevation of two reservoirs (A and B)
flow to or from one of these (Q1)
Required:
flow from two reservoirs (Q2 and Q3)
surface elevation of third reservoir (C)
Solution:
determine h1 using pipe friction equation and Moody’s
diagram

This fixes the elevation of P so h2 can be determined.

Knowing h2 one can determine flow Q2 using

Colebrook/Haaland (8.52) and Darcy Weisbach equation
(8.13)
Q3 can be determined from continuity
Q1  Q2  Q3

This enables the determination of h3 and surface elevation

of C.
Case 2:
Given:
all pipe lengths
all pipe diameters
surface elevation of two reservoirs (e.g. A and
C)
flow to or from third reservoir (say Q2).
Required:
surface elevation of third reservoir (B)
flow from two reservoirs (A and C)
Solution
We know that h1  h3  h13
Assume an elevation of P, which yields values of h 1 and
h3
Q1 and Q3 can be determined as in Case 1.
If the relation at J is not satisfied, adjust the value of P.
This can be done by plotting the result of each
assumption on a graph (ΣQ vs P)
Inflows to J will be taken as positive and outflows as
negative
Select the value of P for ΣQ=0.
Determine h2 from Q2 with Haaland and Darcy
Weisbach equation
Case 3
Three reservoir problem
Given
all pipes lengths
all pipe diameters
elevations of all three reservoirs

Required
Flows in all three pipes
Solution
It is not clear whether the flow is into or out of reservoir
B
At first it is assumed that there is no flow in pipe 2 and
the peizometeric level in P is same as B
Q1 and Q3 can be determined using head losses h1 and h3
in the Haaland and Darcy Weisbach equations
Q1  Q3
If Q1  Q2 at
elevation  QP3 must be raised to satisfy
continuity at J and
Q1  Q3
If then P must be lowered to satisfy
continuity at J causing water to flow out from B.
Then Q1  Q2  Q3
From here on, the solution proceeds along the same
lines as case 2.
 Basic equations used

 Q = A.V
 R = V.D/ν
 1/√f = -1.8log[{(e/d)÷(3.7)}1.1 + (6.9/R)}] (eq no. 8.52)

 h = f.L.V2/2.g.D
f
 V= -2√(2.g.D.hf/L).log [{(e/D)÷3.7) + 2.51(ν/D)(√(L/2gDhf)}] (eq no.
8.56a)
SAMPLE PROBLEM 8.14

Given that, in Fig. 8.27, pipe 1 is 6000 ft of 15 in diameter, pipe 2 is 1500 ft of 10 in

diameter, and pipe 3 is 4500 ft of 8 in diameter, all asphalt-dipped cast iron. The
elevations of the water surfaces in reservoirs A and C are 250 ft and 160 ft, respectively,
and the discharge Q2 of 60°F water into reservoir B is 3.3 cfs. Find the surface elevation
of reservoir B: (a) using only a basic scientific calculator; (b) using equation solving
software.
D 2 / 4, ft 2

Solution
This is a Case 2 problem.
Table A.l for water at 60°F: v = 12.17 x 10-6 ft2/sec.

Pipe: 1 2 3
L, ft 6000 1500 4500
D, ft 1.25 10/12 8/12
e ,ft 0.0004 0.0004 0.0004
L/D 4800 1800 6750
A= D 2 / 4, ft 2 1.227 0.545 0.349
e/D 0.00032 0.00048 0.0006

(a) Find the elevation of P by trial and error.

Elevation of P lies between 160 and 250 ft. Calculate V from Eq. (8.56a) assuming
turbulent flow. Trials:
 Elev. P h1 h3 V1 V3 R1 R32 Q1 Q3 ∑ Q Move P?
200 50 40 6.444 4.481 662,000 245,000 7.907 1.564 +3.04 Up
230 20 70 4.013 5.984 412,000 328,000 4.925 2.088 -0.463 Down

Interpolation (Fig. 8.28): (230 - Elev. P)/(230 - 200) = 0.463/(0.463 + 3.04);

Elev. P = 226.03.

Elev. P h1 h3 V1 V3 R1 R
R23 Q1 Q3 ∑ Q Move P?
226 24 66 4.412 5.805 453,000 318,000 5,414 2.026 +0.088 Up

Interpolation (Fig. 8.28): (230 - Elev. P)/(230 - 226) = 0.463/(0.463 + 0.088); Elev. P = 226.64.
Close enough! Note: These adjustments are very suitable for making on a spreadsheet
(Appendix C.2).
Q2 3.3 D 2V 2
V2    6.055 fps; R2   416,500
A2 0.545 v
All three R values are turbulent, so the use of Eq. (8.56) and these results are valid.
Eq. (8.52): f2 = 0.01761; Eq. (8.13): h2 = 18.05 ft

Elev. B = Elev. P - h2 = 226.64 - 18.05 = 208.59 ft ANS

(b) Using equation solving software such as Excel or Mathcad (Appendixes C.2­-C.3), we
note that there are 14 governing equations. Two of these are

hI + h3 = 250 - 160 = 90, QI = Q2 + Q3

The remaining 12 equations are the four governing equations (Sec. 8.14) for each
of the three pipes.
The complete output for the Excel and Mathcad solutions is provided in
Appendixes D.2 and D.3, respectively.
The solver provides values for the 14 unknowns (three values each for f, V, R, h,
and two values for Q) from which it calculates

Elev. B = 208.53 ft ANS

Note: Observe how simple and clear the Mathcad solution is.
Task 7 (a)
 Sample Problem 8.15
 Page No 330
 Fluid Mechanics with Engineering

Applications (10th Edition)

 E. John Finnemore and Joseph B. Franzini
Task 7 (b)
 Sample Problem 8.16
 Page No 332
 Fluid Mechanics with Engineering

Applications (10th Edition)

 E. John Finnemore and Joseph B. Franzini
Pipes in Series
Figure shows a pipe made up of sections of different
diameters
This pipe must satisfy the equations of continuity
and energy given by

Q  Q1  Q2  Q3

h  h1  h2  h3
(Fig. 8.29)
 For if the Q is given the problem is straight
forward. Head loss may be directly found by
adding contributions from various sections
i.e. by using the Equation of the head loss

 For if Pipe Material or ‘e’ is given use Darcy’s

Weisbach Approach to calculate individual
head loss contributions after finding e/D, V,
R and f for each pipe.
Two approaches are used for the solution
equivalent velocity head method (only this will be
studied)
equivalent length method (Le)

According to the first approach

f1 L1V12 f 2 L2V22 f 3 L3V32
h  
2 gD1 2 gD2 2 gD3

Q1  Q2 A1V1  A2V2
Q1  Q3 A1V1  A3V3
Pipes in parallel
Used to increase the
discharge capacity of a
system
Governing equations

Q  Q1  Q2  Q3

h  h1  h2  h3 (Fig. 8.30)
Pipes in Parallel

A B
Two approaches are used for solution

Approximate approach
Exactly or relatively exact approach (will be
studied)
 For the cases where head loss hL is given
 Total discharge can be calculated by
calculating the individual discharge from all
the pipes using
hL  KQ n

 If pipe material or in other words if ‘e’ is

given then the solution becomes more
accurate
 Neglecting minor losses and inserting values
of all individual discharges
1/ n 1/ n 1/ n
 h f1   h f2   h f3 
Q         
 K1   K2   K3 

Since all head losses are equal


1/ n  1 
1/ n
 1 
1/ n
 1 
1/ n
  1
1/ n

Q  h f           h f   
1/ n

 K1   K2   K 3   K
 Darcy Weisbach equation (considering minor
losses) will be written as
2
 L  V
hL   f   k 
 D  2g
 Where E K is sum of the minor loss coefficients, which we can usually
neglect if the pipe is longer than 1000 diameters.
 Solving for V and Q

2 ghL
Q1  A1V1  A1  C1 hL
f1  1    k1
 L
 D1 
Q  C1 hL  C2 hL  C3 hL  C1  C2  C3  hL