University of Benghazi

Faculty of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Fluid Mechanics Lab (CE327)

Test 9 – Friction In Pipes

Date of test | 29/9/2012

Teacher | Hassan Gebrel

‫ ميالد عادل حويو‬: ‫| االس ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــم‬

3 : ‫| املج ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ـ ــموع ــة‬
17935 : ‫| الرقم الدراسي‬
Friction In pipes

1) Aim :
The objective of the experiment is to determine the friction
factor for the pipes (Major Losses).

2) Introduction :
The head loss (h f ) due to friction undergone
by a fluid motion in a pipe is usually calculated
through the Darcy-Weisbach relation as:
2
Lv
h L =f
D2 g
In this equation f is the Darcy friction factor,
L is the characteristics length of the pipe, D is
the diameter of the pipe, v the velocity of the
flow of liquid and g is the acceleration due to Figure 1 | Darcy-Weisbach
the gravity.
The friction factor ( f ) is a measure of the shear stress (or shear
force per unit area) that the turbulent flow exerts on the wall of a
pipe.
It is customarily expressed in dimensionless form as f = τ / ρ v 2,
where, τ is the shear stress, ρ is the density of the liquid that flows
in the pipe and v the mean velocity of the flow.
For laminar flow (Reynolds number, R ≤2100), the friction factor
is linearly dependent on R , and calculated from the well-known
Hagen-Poiseuille equation:
64
f=
R
Where, R, the Reynolds number, is defined as ūD/ ν .
Whereas, in turbulent flow (R≥4000), the friction factor, f
depends upon the Reynolds number (R) and on the relative
roughness of the pipe, k/D, where, k is the average roughness
height of the pipe.

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 The general behavior of turbulent pipe flow in the presence of
surface roughness is well established.
When k is very small compared to the pipe diameter D, f
depends only on R.
When k /D is of a significant value, at low R, the flow can be
considered as in smooth regime (there is no effect of roughness).

3) Theoretical basis :
To find friction in pipes; we use Darcy-Weisbach Equation:
2
L V
h L =f
D 2g
Where:
 hL Head loss due to friction.
 f Friction Coefficient (Friction Factor).
 L Pipe Length.
And f is function of ( N R)
ρvD vD
N R= =
μ ν
Considering a normal flow in pipe and taking two point far by
a length L and with a mercury differential piezometer reading
equal to h we have from Bernoulli Equation:
P1 +γ w h1=P2 +γ w h2+ γ w h
P 1−P2
=12.56 Δ h
γw
2
L V
h L =f . .
D 2g
2
L V
12.56 Δ h=f . . Equation (1)
D 2g

And we could find an empirical relation relate h L with velocity (

v ):
n
h L =k v
log ( h L )=log (k )+nlog (v )

4) Apparatus :

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 1) Friction Device with manometers.
2) Hydraulic Bench(figure 2).
3) Timers.

Figure 2 | Hydraulics Bench

5) Procedure :
1) Note down the relevant dimensions as diameter and length
of pipe between the pressures tapping, are of collecting
tank etc.
2) The flow rate is adjusted to its maximum value. By
maintaining suitable amount of steady flow in the pipe.
3) The discharge flowing in the circuit is recorded together
with the water level in the left and right limbs of
manometer tube.
4) The flow rate is reduced in stages by means of flow control
valve and the discharge & reading of manometer are
recorded.
5) These procedures are repeated with changing the flow rate.

6) Readings & Calculations:

Using the relation:
2
L V
12.56 Δ h=f . .
D 2g
We get the following:

Run Volume (m )
3
t (s ) h1 h2 3
Q(m / s) v (m/s) H L (m) NR f
1 0.00086 34.9 120.1 395 2.46E-05 3.49 3.45 10406.29 0.0334
2 0.00085 36 127 389 2.36E-05 3.34 3.29 9971.01 0.0347
3 0.00076 33 135 381 2.30E-05 3.26 3.09 9725.74 0.0343
4 0.000678 30 143 375 2.26E-05 3.20 2.91 9544.02 0.0336
5 0.00065 30 151 365 2.17E-05 3.07 2.69 9149.87 0.0337
6 0.00063 30 155 360 2.10E-05 2.97 2.57 8868.34 0.0343
7 0.00069 34 161 355 2.03E-05 2.87 2.44 8570.24 0.0348
8 0.000865 44 166 351 1.97E-05 2.78 2.32 8302.07 0.0354
9 0.0006 31 171 346 1.94E-05 2.74 2.20 8173.58 0.0345

The Average value of f is equal to = 0.0343

And by drawing the relation between log ( H L ) and log (V ) we got:

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 0.6

0.5 f(x) = 1.86229164050207 x − 0.468592065154326

0.4
Log (Head Loss)
0.3

0.2

0.1

0
0.42 0.44 0.46 0.48 0.5 0.52 0.54 0.56
Log (V)

From the equation:

y=1.8623 x−0.4686
We got an empirical relation of the form :
n
H L=k v
1.8623
H L=0.4686 v

Also we can determine the relation between the friction factor

and ¿) :
0.036
0.0355
0.035
0.0345 f(x) = 0.185226953358346 x + 0.0153608488603315
Friction Factor

0.034
0.0335
0.033
0.0325
0.032
0.098 0.099 0.1 0.101 0.102 0.103 0.104 0.105 0.106
1/NR0.25

Calculation of error percentage:

From the graph log ⁡(v )vs log ⁡(head loss) we have a percentage
error by comparing k and n with theoretical values:

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 0.4686−0.29
Error % of k = 0.29
= 61.5%

1.8623−2
Error % of n = 2
= 6.9%

7) Discussion :
In this test and due to the not working devices; we have not
done it and we have just taken the readings from and old
readings paper.
Results obtained from these readings are good enough to be
reliable.

A) Conclusion:
In this test we’ve determinate the friction factor due to friction
in pipes.

B) References :
- Fluid Mechanics Laboratory Manual - (ANNA UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY -
COIMBATORE).
- Fluid Mechanics 4th edition - F. White

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