Pipe Head Loss
The pressure head lost due to flow through pipes and other losses.
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In general the flow of liquid along a pipe can be determined by the use of The Bernoulli Equation and the Continuity Equation. The former represents the conservation of energy, which in Newtonian fluids is either potential or kinetic energy, and the latter ensures that what goes into one end of a pipe must comes out at the other end. However as the flow moves down the pipe, losses due to friction between the moving liquid and the walls of pipe cause the pressure within the pipe to reduce with distance - this is known as head loss.
Note: Only Incompressible liquids are being considered.
Head Lost due to Friction in the Pipe
Two equations can be used when the flow is either Laminar or Turbulent. These are:
Darcy's Equation for Round Pipes
For Round Pipes:
where
is the head loss due to friction [m]
is the length of the pipe [m],
is the hydraulic diameter of the pipe. For circular sections this equals the internal diameter of the pipe [m].
is the velocity within the pipe [
]
is the acceleration due to gravity
is the coefficient of friction.
This equation can be expressed in terms of the quantity flowing per second.
Darcy's Equation for Non Circular Pipes
where Wetted area / Wetted perimeter
The Chezy Equation
where
is
is
or wetted area or wetted perimeter
and
Reynolds number
Which equals 2,300 at the point where the flow changes from Laminar to Turbulent. This is known as the Critical Velocity
If
is plotted against

The critical velocity is the velocity at which the change over from laminar to turbulent flow takes place.
Consider a circular pipe running full
Which can be written as The DARCY EQUATION
i.e. Head lost
Note: in the Darcy formula is not an empirical coefficient
For Laminar flow The change over from laminar flow to turbulent flow occurs when
= 2300 and is independent of whether the pipe walls are smooth or rough.
Laminar Flow
When the flow is laminar it is possible to use the following equation to find the head lost.
The Poiseuille equation states that for a round pipe the head lost due to friction is given by:

Flow occurs because the force across is more than that on
and hence it is possible to write down the following equation.
Integrating
But when
Thus:
But:
Now the mean velocity is given by:-
From equation (#4)
The head lost due to friction is given by:
Substituting from equation (#5) for
Please note that further worked examples on this topic will be found in the paper on "Hydraulic Gradients"


