Advanced Fluid Mechanics

Chapter 7
PIPE NETWORKS

Lecture by
Sohail Ahmed
Internal flows
through pipes,
elbows, tees,
valves, etc., as
in this oil
refinery, are
found in nearly
every industry.
2
 Objectives
• Have a deeper understanding of laminar and
turbulent flow in pipes and the analysis of fully
developed flow
• Calculate the major and minor losses associated
with pipe flow in piping networks
• Understand various velocity and flow rate
measurement techniques and learn their
advantages and disadvantages

3
 ■ INTRODUCTION
• Liquid or gas flow through pipes or ducts is commonly used in heating and
cooling applications and fluid distribution networks.
• The fluid in such applications is usually forced to flow by a fan or pump
through a flow section.
• We pay particular attention to friction, which is directly related to the pressure
drop and head loss during flow through pipes and ducts.
• The pressure drop is then used to determine the pumping power requirement.

Circular pipes can withstand large pressure differences

between the inside and the outside without undergoing any
significant distortion, but noncircular pipes cannot. 4
 ■ INTRODUCTION
• Pipes are closed conduits used to carry liquids under pressure. The liquid
in a pipe is under pressure if it fills the entire cross-section of the pipe and
there is no free surface in the pipe.

• If a pipe is not running full (such as culverts, sewers etc.), the flow is not
under pressure and atmospheric pressure exists above the liquid level.
Such pipes behave as an open channel.

• When liquid flows through pipes shear stresses are developed which
results in the loss of energy.

• The flow of liquid through pipes may be laminar or turbulent. Most of the
times the flow is turbulent. It is difficult to get the time solution for the
turbulent flow is pipes as the exact nature of turbulent flow is not known.

4
■ LAMINAR AND Laminar flow is encountered when
highly viscous fluids such as oils flow
TURBULENT FLOWS in small pipes or narrow passages.

Laminar: Smooth
streamlines and highly
ordered motion.
Turbulent: Velocity
fluctuations and highly
disordered motion.
Transition: The flow
fluctuates between
laminar and turbulent
flows.
Most flows encountered
in practice are turbulent.

The behavior of
colored fluid
Laminar and injected into the
turbulent flow flow in laminar
regimes of and turbulent
flows in a pipe. 6
candle smoke.
■ TURBULENT FLOW IN PIPES
Most flows encountered in engineering practice are turbulent, and thus it is
important to understand how turbulence affects wall shear stress.
Turbulent flow is a complex mechanism dominated by fluctuations, and it is still
not fully understood.
We must rely on experiments and the empirical or semi-empirical correlations
developed for various situations.
Turbulent flow is characterized by
disorderly and rapid fluctuations of swirling
regions of fluid, called eddies, throughout
the flow.
These fluctuations provide an additional
mechanism for momentum and energy
transfer.
In turbulent flow, the swirling eddies
transport mass, momentum, and energy to
other regions of flow much more rapidly
than molecular diffusion, greatly enhancing
The intense mixing in turbulent flow
mass, momentum, and heat transfer.
brings fluid particles at different
momentums into close contact and As a result, turbulent flow is associated
thus enhances momentum transfer. with much higher values of friction, heat
27
transfer, and mass transfer coefficients
 The laminar component: accounts for the
friction between layers in the flow direction
The turbulent component: accounts for the
friction between the fluctuating fluid
particles and the fluid body (related to the
fluctuation components of velocity).

Fluctuations of the velocity component u with

time at a specified location in turbulent flow.

The velocity profile and the variation

of shear stress with radial distance
28
for turbulent flow in a pipe.
Reynolds Number At large Reynolds numbers, the inertial
forces, which are proportional to the
The transition from laminar to turbulent fluid density and the square of the fluid
flow depends on the geometry, surface velocity, are large relative to the viscous
roughness, flow velocity, surface forces, and thus the viscous forces
temperature, and type of fluid. cannot prevent the random and rapid
The flow regime depends mainly on the fluctuations of the fluid (turbulent).
ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces At small or moderate Reynolds
(Reynolds number). numbers, the viscous forces are large
enough to suppress these fluctuations
and to keep the fluid “in line” (laminar).

Critical Reynolds number, Recr:

The Reynolds number at which the
flow becomes turbulent.
The value of the critical Reynolds
number is different for different
geometries and flow conditions.

The Reynolds number can be

viewed as the ratio of inertial
forces to viscous forces
7
acting on a fluid element.
For flow through noncircular
pipes, the Reynolds number
is based on the hydraulic
diameter
For flow in a circular pipe:

The hydraulic diameter

In the transitional flow region of 2300  Re Dh = 4Ac/p is defined such that
 10,000, the flow switches between it reduces to ordinary diameter
8
laminar and turbulent seemingly randomly. for circular tubes.
■ MINOR LOSSES
The fluid in a typical piping system passes
through various fittings, valves, bends,
elbows, tees, inlets, exits, enlargements,
and contractions in addition to the pipes.
These components interrupt the smooth
flow of the fluid and cause additional
losses because of the flow separation and
mixing they induce.
In a typical system with long pipes, these
losses are minor compared to the total
head loss in the pipes (the major losses)
and are called minor losses.
Minor losses are usually expressed in For a constant-diameter section of a pipe
terms of the loss coefficient KL. with a minor loss component, the loss
coefficient of the component (such as the
gate valve shown) is determined by
measuring the additional pressure loss it
Head loss due
causes and dividing it by the dynamic
to component 48
pressure in the pipe.
When the loss coefficient for a component
is available, the head loss for that
component is
Minor
loss

Minor losses are also expressed in terms The head loss caused by a
of the equivalent length Lequiv. component (such as the angle
valve shown) is equivalent to the
head loss caused by a section of
the pipe whose length is the
equivalent length.

49
Total head loss (general)

Total head loss (D = constant)

The head loss at the inlet of a pipe

is almost negligible for well-
rounded inlets (KL = 0.03 for r/D >
0.2) but increases to about 0.50 for
sharp-edged inlets. 50
14
15
 The effect of rounding of a pipe
inlet on the loss coefficient.

Graphical representation of flow

contraction and the associated head loss
at a sharp-edged pipe inlet.
53
All the kinetic energy of the flow is “lost”
(turned into thermal energy) through friction
as the jet decelerates and mixes with ambient
fluid downstream of a submerged outlet.

The losses during changes of direction

can be minimized by making the turn
“easy” on the fluid by using circular
arcs instead of sharp turns. 55
(a)The large head loss in a
partially closed valve is due
to irreversible deceleration,
flow separation, and mixing
of high-velocity fluid coming
from the narrow valve
passage.
(b)The head loss through a
fully-open ball valve, on the
other hand, is quite small. 56
Energy Equation and losses
Consider the following reservoir and pipe system:

The energy equation gives us:

Taking there to be zero velocity everywhere, we can draw this total head on the
diagram:

Hence at each point we have an exchange between pressure head and static head:
The hydraulic grade line is the line showing the pressure and static heads only.
If the velocity varies over the length of the pipe due to changes in diameter.
■ PIPING NETWORKS AND PUMP SELECTION

For pipes in series, the flow rate is the same

in each pipe, and the total head loss is the
sum of the head losses in individual pipes.
A piping network in an
industrial facility.

For pipes in parallel, the

head loss is the same in
each pipe, and the total flow
rate is the sum of the flow
rates in individual pipes. 59
 Example
Water discharges from a reservoir A through a 100 mm pipe 15 m long which rises to its highest point at B,
1.5 m above the free surface of the reservoir, and discharges direct to the atmosphere at C, 4 m below the free
surface at A. The length of pipe l1 from A to B is 5 m and the length of pipe l2 from B to C is 10 m. Both the
entrance and exit of the pipe are sharp and the value of friction coefficient is 0.08. (Hint. Darcy friction factor
= 4(friction coefficient))
Calculate
(a) the mean velocity of the water leaving the pipe at C and
(b) the pressure in the pipe at B.
 INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW THROUGH PIPES
IN SERIES
Example: Two reservoirs A and B (Fig. 14.3) have a difference level of 9 m and are connected by a
pipeline 200 mm in diameter over the first part AC, which is 15 m long, and then 250 mm diameter
for CB, the remaining 45 m length. The entrance to and exit from the pipes are sharp and the
change of section at C is sudden. The friction coefficient
f is 0.01 for both pipes. List the losses of head (energy per unit weight) that occur, giving an
expression for each?
 INCOMPRESSIBLE FLOW THROUGH PIPES
IN PARALLEL
Example: Two sharp-ended pipes of diameter d1 = 50 mm, and d2 = 100 mm, each of length l = 100
m, are connected in parallel between two reservoirs which have a difference of level h = 10 m, as
in Fig. If the friction coefficient f = 0.008 for each pipe.
calculate:
(a) the rate of flow for each pipe,
(b) the diameter D of a single pipe 100 m long that would give the same flow if it was substituted
for the original two pipes.
Assignment 4

14.1 Two vessels in which the difference of surface levels is maintained constant at
2.4m are connected by a 75 mm diameter pipeline 15 m long. If the frictional
coefficient Cf may be taken as 0.008, determine the volume rate of flow through the
pipe.
10

31.7
 120

31.7 120
10

10

187.78
Flow rate of cold water
through a shower may
be affected significantly
by the flushing of a
nearby toilet.
50