Pipe Pressure Loss Calculator Wall drag and changes in height lead to pressure drops in pipe fluid flow.

To calculate the pressure drop and flowrates in a section of uniform pipe running from Point A to Point B, enter the parameters below. The pipe is assumed to be relatively straight (no sharp bends), such that changes in pressure are due mostly to elevation changes and wall friction. (The default calculation is for a smooth horizontal pipe carrying water, with answers rounded to 3 significant figures.) Note that a positive z means that B is higher than A, whereas a negative z means that B is lower than A.

Inputs Pressure at A (absolute): Average fluid velocity in pipe, V: Pipe diameter, D: Pipe relative roughness, e/D: Pipe length from A to B, L: Elevation gain from A to B, z: Fluid density, : Fluid viscosity (dynamic), : Answers Reynolds Number, R: 1.00 105 Friction Factor, f: 0.0180 Select desired output units for next calculation. Pressure at B: 95.5 kPa Pressure Drop: 4.50 kPa Volume Flowrate: 7.85 l/s Mass Flowrate: 7.85 kg/s
Calculate Again Default Values 100 1 10 0 50 0 1 1

Hint: To Calculate a Flowrate

You can solve for flowrate from a known pressure drop using this calculator (instead of solving for a pressure drop from a known flowrate or velocity). Proceed by guessing the velocity and inspecting the calculated pressure drop. Refine your velocity guess until the calculated pressure drop matches your data.

Equations used in the Calculation Changes to inviscid, incompressible flow moving from Point A to Point B along a pipe are described by Bernoulli's equation,

where p is the pressure, V is the average fluid velocity, is the fluid density, z is the pipe elevation above some datum, and g is the gravity acceleration constant. Bernoulli's equation states that the total head h along a streamline (parameterized by x) remains constant. This means that velocity head can be converted into gravity head and/or pressure head (or vice-versa), such that the total head h stays constant. No energy is lost in such a flow. For real viscous fluids, mechanical energy is converted into heat (in the viscous boundary layer along the pipe walls) and is lost from the flow. Therefore one cannot use Bernoulli's principle of conserved head (or energy) to calculate flow parameters. Still, one can keep track of this lost head by introducing another term (called viscous head) into Bernoulli's equation to get,

where D is the pipe diameter. As the flow moves down the pipe, viscous head slowly accumulates taking available head away from the pressure, gravity, and velocity heads. Still, the total head h (or energy) remains constant. For pipe flow, we assume that the pipe diameter D stays constant. By continuity, we then know that the fluid velocity V stays constant along the pipe. With D and V constant we can integrate the viscous head equation and solve for the pressure at Point B,

where L is the pipe length between points A and B, and z is the change in pipe

elevation (zB - zA). Note that z will be negative if the pipe at B is lower than at A. The viscous head term is scaled by the pipe friction factor f. In general, f depends on the Reynolds Number R of the pipe flow, and the relative roughness e/D of the pipe wall,

The roughness measure e is the average size of the bumps on the pipe wall. The relative roughness e/D is therefore the size of the bumps compared to the diameter of the pipe. For commercial pipes this is usually a very small number. Note that perfectly smooth pipes would have a roughness of zero. For laminar flow (R < 2000 in pipes), f can be deduced analytically. The answer is,

For turbulent flow (R > 3000 in pipes), f is determined from experimental curve fits. One such fit is provided by Colebrook,

The solutions to this equation plotted versus R make up the popular Moody Chart for pipe flow,

The calculator above first computes the Reynolds Number for the flow. It then computes the friction factor f by direct substitution (if laminar; the calculator uses the condition that R < 3000 for this determination) or by iteration using Newton-Raphson

(if turbulent). The pressure drop is then calculated using the viscous head equation above. Note that the uncertainties behind the experimental curve fits place at least a 10% uncertainty on the deduced pressure drops. The engineer should be aware of this when making calculations. Calculator This calculator computes the Reynolds Number given the flow characteristics asked for below. It outputs the flow type you can expect ( laminar, transitional, or turbulent) based on the Reynolds Number result. Think of the Characteristic Distance as the distance from the leading edge (where the fluid first makes contact) for flow over a plate, or as the pipe diameter for flow inside a pipe. Inputs Free-stream fluid velocity, V: Characteristic distance (or pipe diameter), D: Fluid density, : Fluid viscosity (dynamic), : Answers Reynolds Number, R: 1.00 105
Calculate Again Default Values 1 10 1 1

Plate flow is transitioning to turbulent at a distance D from the leading edge. Pipe flow is fully turbulent in a pipe of diameter D.

Equation Behind the Calculator The Reynolds Number is found from the equation,

barotropic A barotropic fluid is one whose pressure and density are related by an equation of state that does not contain the temperature as a dependent variable. Mathematically, the equation of state can be expressed as p = p() or = (p). compressible A fluid flow is compressible if its density changes appreciably (typically by a few percent) within the domain of interest. Typically, this will occur

when the fluid velocity exceeds Mach 0.3. Hence, low velocity flows (both gas and liquids) behave incompressibly. density, The mass of fluid per unit volume. For a compressible fluid flow, the density can vary from place to place. incompressible An incompressible fluid is one whose density is constant everywhere. All fluids behave incompressibly (to within 5%) when their maximum velocities are below Mach 0.3. inviscid Not viscous. irrotational An irrotational fluid flow is one whose streamlines never loop back on themselves. Typically, only inviscid fluids can be irrotational. Of course, a uniform viscid fluid flow without boundaries is also irrotational, but this is a special (and boring!) case. Laminar (non-turbulent) An organized flow field that can be described with streamlines. In order for laminar flow to be permissible, the viscous stresses must dominate over the fluid inertia stresses. Mach Mach number is the relative velocity of a fluid compared to its sonic velocity. Mach numbers less than 1 correspond to sub-sonic velocities, and Mach numbers > 1 correspond to super-sonic velocities. Newtonian A Newtonian fluid is a viscous fluid whose shear stresses are a linear function of the fluid strain rate. Mathematically, this can be expressed as: ij = Kijqp*Dpq, where ij is the shear stress component, and Dpq are fluid strain rate components. perfect A perfect fluid is defined as a fluid with zero viscosity (i.e. inviscid). rotational A rotational fluid flow can contain streamlines that loop back on themselves. Hence, fluid particles following such streamlines will travel along closed paths. Bounded (and hence nonuniform) viscous fluids exhibit rotational flow, typically within their boundary layers. Since all real fluids are viscous to some amount, all real fluids exhibit a level of rotational flow somewhere in their domain. Regions of rotational flow correspond to the regions of viscous losses in a fluid. Inviscid fluid flows can also be rotational, but these are special nonphysical cases. For an inviscid fluid flow to be rotational, it must be set up that way by initial conditions. The amount of rotation (called the velocity circulation) in an inviscid fluid flow is conserved, provided that the fluid is also barotropic and subject only to conservative body forces. This conservation is known as Kelvin's Theorem of constant circulation. Stokesian A Stokesian (or non-Newtonian) fluid is a viscous fluid whose shear stresses are a non-linear function of the fluid strain rate. streamline A path in a steady flow field along which a given fluid particle travels. turbulent A flow field that cannot be described with streamlines in the absolute sense. However, time-averaged streamlines can be defined to describe the average

behavior of the flow. In turbulent flow, the inertia stresses dominate over the viscous stresses, leading to small-scale chaotic behavior in the fluid motion. viscosity, A fluid property that relates the magnitude of fluid shear stresses to the fluid strain rate, or more simply, to the spatial rate of change in the fluid velocity field. Mathematically, this is expressed as: = *(dV/dy), where is the shear stress in the same direction as the fluid velocity V, and y is a direction perpendicular to the fluid velocity direction.