1.

Abstract
Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of solid surfaces, fluid layers, and material
elements sliding against each other. There are several types of friction such as fluid friction,
dry friction and internal friction. Fluid friction can be specifically describes the friction
between layers of viscous fluid that are moving relative to each other. This experiment, Fluid
Friction Apparatus is to study about the flow measurement techniques and losses in a
variety of pipes fittings. Then to calculate the pipe friction coefficient for different pipe
material. It is consisted the relationship between the head loss due to the fluid friction and
velocity for flow of the water to the different type pipe material for both laminar and turbulent
flow. According to the head loss formula, as velocity, V increase head loss, h loss also
increases. Reynolds number was calculated to determine the behavior of the flow. In the
pipe flow, laminar flow exist if Re is less than 2000 while turbulent flow exist when Re bigger
than 4000. If, the Re number lies between 2000 and 4000 can be stated in transition flow.
Pressure drop across the pipe, bends and other component that will effect head loss were
than measured calculate the effective lengths. As what concluded in the conclusion, bends
have greater turning radius compared to elbow. Hence, the loss coefficient value for bends
is greater than elbow. The velocity of the several flow then was measured. Finally, the
objectives of the experiment achieved when all the data were obtained.

2. Introduction
In hydraulic engineering practice, it is frequently necessary to calculate the head loss
incurred by the fluid as it flows along a pipe. For example, it may be desired to predict the
rate of flow along a proposed pipe connecting two reservoirs at two different levels. Or it
may be necessary to calculate what additional head would be required to double the rate of
flow along an existing pipeline. Head loss occurs at fittings such as bends or valves and by
frictional resistance at the pipe wall. Where there are numerous fittings and pipe is short, the
major part of loss will be due to the local mixing near the fittings. For the long pipeline, on
the other hand, friction on the wall of the pipeline will predominate.
There are three objectives of the experiment and the primary purpose was to evaluate fluid
friction in pipes of different type of material which is stainless steel and PVC. For the straight
length of pipes, pressure drop measured were used to calculate the friction factor in those
pipes. A negative relationship between friction factor and Reynolds number was expected.
Moreover, the relationship predicted to follow exponentially decreasing trends similar to
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those found on turbulent section of the Moody chart, with higher friction factor values for the
rougher pipes. On the other hand, the objective was to measure pressure drop across piping
components to determine effective diameter. In spite the fact that this data did not contribute
itself to comparison to tabulated values, qualitative differences in pressure drop
contributions of each components was analysed. Finally, determination of head loss through
pipe fittings.
3. Aims
1. To find the pressure drop pattern for different type of pipe material and diameter.
2. To determine the pipe friction coefficient for different pipe material.
4. Theory

h Ltotal=hLmajor hminor
The overall head loss for a pipe system consists of the head loss due to viscous effects
in the straight pipes, named the major head loss, h Lmajor and the head of the various pipe
components named the minor head loss, hLminor, and the sum of the both of these losses
make up the total head loss like the equation given above.
Major losses
The head loss due to viscous effects in straight pipes is named the major head loss and
it is denoted by hLmajor . The factor that effects the flow inside the pipes and the major losses
occur is the friction factor. The friction factor will allow a variety of information regarding pipe
flow. For the turbulent flow the dependence of the friction factor on the Reynolds number is
much more complex than for laminar flow. The friction factor for the laminar flow can
described as follows:

f=

64

Where

stand for the friction factor or the other name is the Darcy friction factor. In

laminar flow, the friction factor is independent of

. The expresses the friction factor in

turbulent flow is more complicated than laminar and it is called the Colebrook equation

D 2.51
+
3.7 f
1
=2.0 log
f
While for the horizontal pipes, the change in pressure is a friction of the length and
diameter of the pipes, and also the physical properties of the fluid and the pipes.

In

horizontal pipes, the pressure drop occur due to the friction and the density of the fluid is
written as bellow

p=f

1 V
D 2

For a vertical pipe it is expressed as follows:

h Lmajor =f

1 V2
D 2g

If all of the new expressions are applied to the energy equation, it obtained the
expression as below:

P1P2= ( z 2z 1 ) +f

1 V2

D 2

Usually, the roughness of the pipe is depends on the type of the materials of the pipe,
the ways it was produced or by schedule number. The roughness is not as uniform and well
defined as in the artificially roughened pipes used by Nikuradse. However, it is possible to
obtain a measure of the effective relative roughness of typical pipes and thus obtain the

friction factor. Typical roughness value for the various pipe surfaces are given in the table
below:

Table 1: Roughness factor for difference material

The functional dependence of

f on Re is called the Moody Chart,

Figure 2: Moody Chart

Minor losses
Minor head losses occur because of the presence of the pipe component. This loss can
be very small or it can be infinite, as it would be in the case of the closed valve. The minor
loss coefficient is called as KL, and it is described as below:

2g
2
V /

h
K L = Lminor

Therefore, the change in pressure can be written as follows:

P=K L

1
2
2 V

h Lminor =K L

V2
2g

The table below figures for minor loss coefficients.

Table 2: Loss coefficient for the pipe components

5. Apparatus
8

Galvanized pipe- used for outdoor

Copper pipe- used as home plumbing

Stopwatch
Used to measure the time taken

1. An in-line strainer (2)

2. An artificially roughened pipe (7)
3. Smooth bore pipes of 4 different diameters (8), (9), (10) and (11)
4. A long radius 90 bend (6)
5. A short radius 90 bend (15)
6. A 45 "Y" (4)
7. A 45 elbow (5)
8. A 90 "T" (13)
9. A 90 mitre (14)
10. A 90 elbow (22)
11. A sudden contraction (3)
12. A sudden enlargement (16)
13. A pipe section made of clear acrylic with a Pitot static tube (17)
14. A Venturi meter made of clear acrylic (18)
15. An orifice meter made of clear acrylic (19)
16. A ball valve (12)
17. A globe valve (20)
18. A gate valve (21)
6. Procedure
1. The apparatus of fluid friction experiment is roughly explained by laboratory assistant
and Miss Habsah
2. The task for this assignment is to find the pressure drop pattern for different type of
pipe material and diameter and to determine the pipe friction coefficient for different
pipe material
7. Result
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The fluid friction apparatus is designed to allow a detailed study of pressure drop as a result
of fluid friction, when an incompressible fluid flows through pipes, fittings, and flow metering
devices. Friction head losses in straight pipes of different sizes can be investigated with a
wide range of Reynolds number, covering laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow regimes.
An artificially roughened tube is also incorporated into the apparatus to demonstrate the
departure from typical smooth bore pipe characteristics.
In this lesson we learned that head losses, friction loss, and minor losses are all involved in
properly calculating the head losses within the entire system. Energy losses occur
in pipeline restrictions called fittings, valve sudden enlargement, bends, tees, elbows and
orifices. It is very important to keep all of the energy losses in a fluid system to a minimum,
acceptable level. This requires the proper selection of pipe sizes and fittings that make up a
system. The resistance of fittings can be determined using empirical formulae that have
been developed via experimentation. This permits the calculation of energy losses for any
system component. We had learned about the relation of loss coefficient, flow speed,
diameter of pipes, and friction factor with head loss. And the use of different pipe such as
bends and elbows with different turning radius will affect the value of head loss.

8. Calculation
Pipe friction
Measuring tank dimension: Length L (m) =
Breadth B (m) =
Area A (m2 ) = BL =
Length of the pipe (m) =
Diameter of the pipe d (m) =
Area of the pipe A (m2 ) = 4 2 d
Discharge Qa = AR/t m3 /sec
Velocity V = Qa/a
Friction coefficient f = 2 gdh/ 4lv2
11

Hydraulic gradient = h/l

Reynolds number Re = vd/
Graphs: Log l vs log v and log f v/s log Re
Friction coefficient
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 Dz means that B is higher than A, whereas a negative Dz means that B is
lower than A.

Changes to inviscid, incompressible flow moving from Point A to Point B along a pipe are
described byBernoulli's equation,

where p is the pressure, V is the average fluid velocity, r 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
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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 Dz is the change in pipe
elevation (zB - zA). Note that Dz 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,

13

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,

9. Discussion

Vv. According to the flow speed formula,

v=

4
d2

the volumetric flow, V is directly

proportional to the flow speed, v . hlossv2. According to the head loss formula, head loss,

f .l v 2
hloss= d . 2 g

, the hloss is directly proportional to the square of flow speed, v. When the

14

volumetric flow, V increases, the head loss, h loss will increase. When the volumetric flow, V
decrease, the head loss, hloss will also decrease. There is difference between the measured
head loss and the calculated head loss because of other losses other than head loss From

f .l v 2
the head loss formula, hloss= d . 2 g

the head loss is directly proportional to the length of

the pipe (hlossl ). When the length of the pipe is increased, the head loss will increase.

f .l v 2
From the head loss formula, hloss= d . 2 g

the head loss is inversely proportional to the

1
diameter of the pipe (hloss d ). When the diameter of the pipe is increased, the head
losswill decrease.

f .l v 2
By using head loss formula, hloss= d . 2 g

Under the circumstance where friction factor

(f), length of pipe (l), and diameter of pipe (d) are constant, the head loss is directly
proportional to the flow speed (hlossv). When the flow speed is increasing, the head loss will
also be increasing.
In terms of turning radius, bends have greater turning radius compared to elbow. Hence, the
loss coefficient value for bends is greater than elbows and result in having greater value of

v2
k
head loss in bends, hloss=
2 g head loss is proportional to loss coefficient under constant
flow speed and gravitation).
Bends have greater turning radius compared to elbow, so bends have greater value of loss

coefficient compared to elbows. Equivalent length, Le=

k.

d
f

. This equation shows that

under condition of same diameter of pipe, d, and friction factor, k (as the flow speed
andReynolds number are the same) are constant, the value of equivalent length depends

15

solely on loss coefficient, K. Therefore, if the value of loss coefficient increases, equivalent
length will also increase.

10. Conclusion
The objective of this experiment to find the pressure drop pattern for different type of pipe
material and diameter is achieved. From the sample calculation, the pressure drop pattern
for different type of pipe material and different diameter pipe can be known. The friction
coefficient for different pipe material also determined from the sample calculation by using
severals equation and Moody chart.
11. Recommendation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Always use the safety helmet while handling the experiment.

Ask laboratory assistant if there are any problems about the apparatus.
Repeat the experiment at least three times to get the accurate data.
Make sure the apparatus is function properly
The equipment must run at least a day before the experiment take place.
Understand and follow the procedure that have given and ask laboratory assistant if
there are any problems.

12. References
1. http://www.efunda.com/formulae/fluids/calc_pipe_friction.cfm (retrieved 15th November
2.
3.
4.
5.

2015)
http://petrowiki.org/Fluid_friction (retrieved 15th November 2015)
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/airfri2.html (retrieved 15th November 2015)
http://www.jfccivilengineer.com/pipe_friction_loss.htm (retrieved 15th November 2015)
http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0104-66322003000400012

(retrieved 15th November 2015)

6. Cengel, Y.A. & Cimbala J.M. (2006). Fluid Mechanics : Fundamentals and Applications.
Flow in pipes. New York : McGraw Hill,
13. Appendix

16

Sample of fluid friction apparatus

Sample of fluid friction apparatus

17

Sample of fluid friction apparatus

18

Moody Chart Diagram

19

Loss coefficients for pipe components

20

Roughness factor for difference materials

21