Aim of the Experiment:

1. To determine the frictional losses encountered in a hydraulically smooth pipe under laminar
and turbulent flow situations.

2. To determine the effect of Reynolds number on Fanning friction factor for laminar and
turbulent flow situations in a hydraulically smooth pipe. Verify the correlations for laminar
flow and turbulent flow (Blasius correlation and Nicurdse’s correlation)

Apparatus required: CCL4,Hgmanometer.

Theory:

Pipe flow under pressure is used for a lot of purposes. A fundamental understanding of fluid flow is
essential to almost every industry related with chemical engineering. In the chemical and
manufacturing industries, large flow networks are necessary to achieve continuous transport of
products and raw materials from different processing units. This requires a detailed understanding
of fluid flow in pipes. Energy input to the gas or liquid is needed to make it flow through the pipe.
This energy input is needed because there is frictional energy loss (also called frictional head loss or
frictional pressure drop) due to the friction between the fluid and the pipe wall and internal friction
within the fluid. In pipe flow substantial energy is lost due to frictional resistances.

One of the most common problem in fluid mechanics is the estimation of this pressure loss.
Calculating pressure losses is necessary for determining the appropriate size pump. Knowledge of
the magnitude of frictional losses is of great importance because it determines the power
requirements of the pump forcing the fluid through the pipe. For example, in refining and
petrochemical industries, these losses have to be calculated accurately to determine where booster
pumps have to be placed when pumping crude oil or other fluids in pipes to distances thousands of
kilometres away.

Pipe losses in a piping system result from a number of system characteristics, which include among
others; pipe friction, changes in direction of flow, obstructions in flow path, and sudden or gradual
changes in the cross-section and shape of flow path.

In this experiment, pressure loss measurements are made as a function of flowrate on different pipe
components namely; a) straight pipe, (b)globe valve (c) o gate valve (d)an Expander (e)Reducer
(f)standard elbow (g) 90 Bend.

Resistance to flow in a pipe

When a fluid flows through a pipe, the internal roughness of the pipe wall can create local eddy
currents within the fluid adding a resistance to flow of the fluid. The velocity profile in a pipe will
show that the fluid elements in the center of the pipe will move at a higher speed than those closer
to the wall. . Therefore friction will occur between layers within the fluid. This movement of fluid
elements relative to each other is associated with pressure drop, called frictional losses. Pipes with
smooth walls such as glass, copper, brass and polyethylene have only a small effect on the frictional
resistance. Pipes with less smooth walls such as concrete, cast iron and steel will create larger eddy
currents which will sometimes have a significant effect on the frictional resistance. Rougher the
inner wall of the pipe, more will be the pressure loss due to friction.

As the average velocity increases, pressure losses increase. Velocity is directly related to flow rate.
Velocity=Volumetric flow rate /Cross sectional area of the pipe.

An increase or decrease in flow rate will result in a corresponding increase or decrease in velocity.
Smaller pipe causes a greater proportion of the liquid to be in contact with the pipe, which creates
friction. Pipe size also affects velocity. Given a constant flow rate, decreasing pipe size increases the
velocity, which increases friction. The friction losses are cumulative as the fluid travels through the
length of pipe. The greater the distance, the greater the friction losses will be. Fluids with a high
viscosity will flow more slowly and will generally not support eddy currents and therefore the
internal roughness of the pipe will have no effect on the frictional resistance. This condition is known
as laminar flow.

There are in general three types of fluid flow in pipes

 laminar

 turbulent

 transient

Laminar flow
Laminar flow generally happens when dealing with small pipes , low flow velocities and with highly
viscous fluids. At low velocities fluids tend to flow without lateral mixing,and adjacent layers slide
past one another like playing cards. There are neither cross currents nor eddies. Laminar flow can be
regarded as a series of liquid cylinders in the pipe, where the innermost parts flow the fastest, and
the cylinder touching the pipe isn't moving at all.

Turbulent flow
In turbulent flow, the fluid moves erratically in the form of cross currents and eddies. Turbulent flow
happens in general at high flow rates and with larger pipes.

Transitional flow
Transitional flow is a mixture of laminar and turbulent flow, with turbulence in the center of the
pipe, and laminar flow near the edges.
Each of these flows behave in different manners in terms of their frictional energy loss while flowing,
and have different equations that predict their behavior.Reynolds studied the conditions under
which one type of flow changes into the other and found that the critical velocity ,at which laminar
flow changes into turbulent flow ,depends on four quantities: the diameter of the tube, viscosity,
density and average velocity of the liquid. He found that these four factors can be combined into
one group and that the change in kind of flow occurs at a definite value of the group. The grouping
of the variables so found was Reynolds Number( ) .Turbulent or laminar flow is determined by
Reynolds Number.

Osbourne Reynolds (1842-1912)

The Reynolds number expresses the ratio of inertial (resistant to change or motion) forces to viscous
forces.

        (1)

Where D is the diameter of the pipe

is the density of fluid
V is the average velocity of the fluid
is the viscosity of fluid.
The Reynolds number can be written in terms of kinematic viscosity ( η)

= dynamic viscosity / density= /         (2)

The Reynolds number is important in analyzing any type of flow when there is substantial velocity
gradient (i.e. shear.) It indicates the relative significance of the viscous effect compared to the inertia
effect.

The flow is

 laminar when NRe< 2100

 turbulenttransient when 2100 < N Re< 4000

 transient turbulent when 4000 < NRe

At laminar region,viscous forces are dominant as compared to inertial forces. Under laminar flow
condition the pressure drop per unit length is proportional to the velocity. At transition region, the
experimental results are not reproducible. Finally, at turbulent region, inertial forces are dominant.
For turbulent flow, the pressure drop becomes proportional to the velocity raised to a power of 2.

Relationship Between Frictional Head Loss and Frictional Pressure Drop

The energy loss in pipe flow due to friction can be expressed as a pressure drop instead of as a head
loss. Chemical and mechanical engineers often work with pressure drop, whereas civil engineers
usually work with head loss. The relationship between frictional head loss and frictional pressure
drop is simply:

        (4)

where:
= frictional pressure drop ,
= frictional head loss due to skin friction,
= fluid density,
g = acceleration due to gravity
Head Loss due to skin friction (hfs) can be related to wall shear.

        (5)

Where is the shear stress at the wall of the pipe ,L is the length of the pipe and is pressure
drop due to friction losses.
is not conveniently determined so the dimensionless friction factor is introduced into the
equations.
The Friction Factor It is denoted by f and defined as the ratio of the wall shear stress to the product
of the velocity head (V2/2) and density=

        (6)

        (7)

Where f is the Fannings friction factor

 Only need L, D, V and f to get friction loss

 Valid for both laminar and turbulent flow

 Valid for Newtonian and Non-Newtonian fluids

Correlations were made between the fanning friction factor and the Reynolds number for both
laminar and turbulent flow in a variety of pipes.
For laminar flow, first principles can be used to develop a relation between Reynolds number and
friction factor. The Hagen-Poiseuille equation relates the frictional pressure drop to fluid velocity,
viscosity, and pipe dimension:

        (8)

Equating the pressure drop due to friction in the Hagen-Poiseuille equation given by Eq.8, with the
overall pressure drop across the pipe, and combining with the Fanning equation given by Eq.7,
results in relation for laminar flow as

f=16/NRe        (9)

A first principle analysis can not be used to develop a relation between friction factor and Reynolds
numbers for turbulent flow. A variety of empirical correlations exist for turbulent flow in smooth
pipes. Blasius equations :

        (10)

The above correlation is valid for

The Blasius equation is purely an empirical equation and has no theoretical basis, but it is a
convenient form for application. The entire turbulent region can be represented by the von Kármán-
Nikuradse equation:

        (11)

for Re > 4000, turbulent

It has long been known that in turbulent flow a rough pipe leads to a larger friction factor for a given
Reynolds number than a smooth pipe does. If a rough pipe is smoothed , the friction factor is
reduced. When further smoothing brings about no further reduction in friction factor for a given
Reynolds number,the tube is said to be hydraulically smooth.

In turbulent flow, the friction factor, f depends upon the Reynolds number and on the relative
roughness of the pipe, k/D, where, k is the roughness parameter(average roughness height of the
pipe) and D is the inner diameter of the pipe. . 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 i.e. k/D->0, f depends only on NRe. When k/D is of a significant value, at low NRe , the
flow can be considered as in smooth regime (there is no effect of roughness). As NRe increases, the
flow becomes transitionally rough, called as transition regime in which the friction factor rises above
the smooth value and is a function of both k and NRe and as N Re increases more and more, the flow
eventually reaches a fully rough regime in which f is independent of N Re .

In a smooth pipe flow, the viscous sub layer completely submerges the effect of k on the flow. In this
case, the friction factor f is a function of NRe and is independent of the effect of k on the flow. In
case of rough pipe flow, the viscous sub layer thickness is very small when compared to roughness
height and thus the flow is dominated by the roughness of the pipe wall and f is the function only of
k/D and is independent of NRe . For design purposes, the frictional characteristics of round pipes,both
smooth and rough ,are summarized by the friction factor chart, which is a log-log plot of Fanning
friction factor (f ) vs NRe which is based on Moody’s chart .

Procedure:

1. Keep the valve leading to the smooth pipe open and valves leading to other lines closed.

2. Keep the bypass valve completely open and the main valve completely closed. Switch on the
pump.

3. Connect a CCL4 manometer,to the pressure taps across the smooth pipe. Ensure that no air
bubbles present and height in both the limbs of manometer are the same.

4. Set a flow rate of water through the pipe by opening the main valve and throttling the
bypass valve suitably using the rotameter.
 5. Note down the rotameter reading and manometer reading after a steady state is attained.

6. Increase the flow rate of water by opening the main valve and throttling the bypass valve
suitably and repeat step 4 and 5.

7. Use mercury manometer for higher flow rates.

8. Take eight readings with CCL4 manometer as well as with Hg manometer.

Data:
Diameter of the pipe= D =        m
Length of the pipe= L =        m

Density of water = =        kg/m3

Viscosity of water = =cp=       kg/ms

Density of CCl4 = 1600 kg/m3
Density of Hg = 13600 kg/m3
Observations:

Manometer reading

Rotameter
Sl No. reading LPM ∆Hm cm

Calculations:

1. ∆Hm is cm of manometric fluid

2. Volumetric flow rate, Q = m3/s

 3. Pressure drop in m of water

4. Cross sectional area of the pipe A =

5. Average velocity through the pipe = V=Q/A = m/s

6. Reynolds number = NRe = =

7. Friction factor f is calculated using f Blasius equation:

8. Friction factor

9. Nicurdse’s correlation:

Plot fexpt vs NRe on log-log graph. Compare them.

To verify Nicurdse’s correlation:

on a semi log graph

Find the slope and intercept.
Compare with Nicurdse ’s correlation.
Discuss on effect of Reynolds number on friction factor.