Fluid and Hydraulics Laboratory

Experiment #4: Major Head Losses due to Friction

Name: Husni N. Abdulhadi

ID: 110038

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Contents
Abstract: .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Introduction: ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Definitions: ...................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Types of flow: .................................................................................................................................................................. 4
Head Losses Causes in pipes: .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Apparatus ................................................................................................................................................................................ 5
Procedure:............................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Results and Analysis: ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
Calculations Done to Construct the Table .............................................................................................................................. 7
The Area of the pipe section (A) ..................................................................................................................................... 7
The Flow Rate (Q)............................................................................................................................................................ 7
The Velocity (V) ............................................................................................................................................................... 7
The Friction Factor (f ) ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
The Reynolds number (Re ).............................................................................................................................................. 7
The Graphs Illustrating the Relationship between P and v .................................................................................................. 8
The Graphs Illustrating the Relationship between log(P) and v ......................................................................................... 10
Discussion: ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12
Conclusion: ............................................................................................................................................................................ 12

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Abstract:
The objective for this experiment is to determine and estimate the pressure head losses in smooth
pipes and the flow types with different diameters using the apparatus for fluid friction in pipes.

Introduction:
In order to fully understand the conceptual part of this experiment we have to define some basic
aspects first;

Definitions:

Head Losses: in pipe refers to the pressure drop (due to friction) as a fluid flows through a pipe. Head losses
represents how much pressure will be lost due to the orientation of the pipe system (pressure head, velocity head,
and potential head). This is used to determine if your pipe system is of optimum efficiency.

Flow Rate (Q): is the volume of fluid which passes per unit time.

Reynolds number (Re): is a dimensionless quantity that is used to help predict similar flow patterns in different
fluid flow situations. The concept was introduced by George Gabriel Stokes in 1851, but the Reynolds number is
named after Osborne Reynolds (18421912), who popularized its use in 1883.The Reynolds number is defined as
the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces and consequently quantifies the relative importance of these two
types of forces for given flow conditions.

Moody Diagram: The Moody chart or Moody diagram is a graph in non-dimensional form that relates the DarcyWeisbach friction factor, Reynolds number and relative roughness for fully developed flow in a circular pipe. It can
be used for working out pressure drop or flow rate down such a pipe.

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Types of flow:

Laminar Flow: is a flow regime characterized by high momentum diffusion and low momentum convection, and
also a low velocity.

Turbulent Flow: In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is a flow regime characterized by chaotic
property changes. This includes low momentum diffusion, high momentum convection, and rapid variation of
pressure and velocity in space and time.

Types of Flow

Moody Diagram

*Note: in the laminar flow (Re2000) and the f is calculated to be 64/Re which is a function of reynolds number
and internal surface roughness.

Head Losses Causes in pipes:

1. Major (mainly friction)
2. Minor (the alterations that occur in pipes such as bends and contractions etc.)

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The losses due to friction are estimated by Darcy- Weisbach formula:

= = .

Where;
.
2
2

The flow can be calculated by knowing the volume and time via this formula:

Where;
, 3 /
, 3
,

In this experiment we have five different diameter pipes in which we use the Hg manometer in the relatively
smaller pipes and use H2O in the larger ones in order to easily compute the difference because theres less
friction in the bigger diameter pipes.
We plot a graph for each pipe (P vs. v) and (P vs. log v) and we notice that theres a 45o in the area of laminar
flow and a straight line in the area of turbulent flow.

Apparatus:
1- Apparatus for fluid flow friction in pipes.
2- Graduated cylinder.
3- Stop Watch.

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Procedure:
1. Open the valves across the pipe along which the friction loss will be calculated and ensure that all the other
valves for the other pipes are closed.
2. Put the Red-Blue circuit between the two points on the pipe.
3. Open fully the water control valve on the hydraulic bench.
4. Record the readings on the piezometer tubes and the U-tube.
5. Repeat the above procedure for a total of 5 different flow rates.

Results and Analysis:

Pipe no.

D
(m)

A
(m2)

L
(m)

0.0043

0.0000145

0.0072

0.0000406

0.01135

0.000101

0.01425

0.000159

0.0171

0.000229

Q
(m3/s)

V
(m/s)

6.09925E-05
5.76303E-05
5.56192E-05
4.78692E-05
3.05922E-05
0.000116156
0.000115466
0.000109856
0.000100126
8.06822E-05
0.000188
0.000177
0.000159
0.0001315
0.00012
0.000255
0.000236
0.0002125
0.000177
0.000155
0.000287
0.000268
6.09925E-05
5.76303E-05

4.206379
3.974502
3.835805
3.301322
2.109808
2.860974
2.843986
2.705802
2.466154
1.987247
1.861386
1.752475
1.574257
1.30198
1.188119
1.603774
1.484277
1.336478
1.113208
0.974843
1.253275
1.170306
0.838428
0.825328

P
(m)
0.523
0.482
0.432
0.344
0.171
0.125
0.121
0.115
0.101
0.063
0.428
0.368
0.325
0.282
0.237
0.288
0.237
0.192
0.166
0.122
0.164
0.119
0.09
0.066

Re

0.00249375
0.00257424
0.00247707
0.00266287
0.00324099
0.00215732
0.0021133
0.0022189
0.00234592
0.00225356
0.02750842
0.02668326
0.02920295
0.03704548
0.03738725
0.03130547
0.03007686
0.03005325
0.03745154
0.03589257
0.03503048
0.02915033
0.04295425
0.03250771

24034.21
19747.06
29666.5
30284.33
28843.15
27281.44
28399.56
2326.56
2398.507
2191.559
1727.606
1711.814
2044.371
2127.882
2129.553
1708.875
1783.099
1826.98
2195.516
1489.957
1968.764
24034.21
19747.06
29666.5

*note: we connected the first two pipes to water network and the last three to the hydraulic bench
*note: the Hg manometer takes the readings immediately without subtraction but we had an initial error of 2cm that we
have to subtract out of each reading. Consider that I didnt subtract the 2cm from the readings taken for the last 3 pipes.
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Calculations Done to Construct the Table

We have several calculations in order to make the table and plot the graphs theyre shown below;

The Area of the pipe section (A)

= (2 /4) = (0.00432 /4) = 1.4522x10-5 m2

The Flow Rate (Q)

1103

15.94

= =

= 6.099 x10-5 m3/s

The Velocity (V)

(6.099105 )
1.4522105

=4.2 m/s

The Friction Factor (f )

..2
. 2

(0.523).(0.0045).(29.81)
(1).(4.2)2

= 0.00249375

*note: dimensionless factor.

The Reynolds number (Re )

=

64

64

= (0.00249375 ) = 24034.21

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*note: dimensionless factor.

The Graphs Illustrating the Relationship between P and v

We have 5 different graphs for the 5 pipes and theyre shown below;

1st pipe
0.6
0.5

P (m)

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

0.5

1.5

2.5

3.5

4.5

v (m/s)

2nd Pipe
0.14
0.12

Title

0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0

0.5

1.5

Axis Title

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2.5

3.5

3rd pipe
0.45
0.4
0.35

P (m)

0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0

0.5

1.5

v (m)

4th pipe
0.35
0.3

0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

5th pipe
0.18
0.16
0.14

P (m)

0.12
0.1
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0
0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

v(m/s)

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1.2

1.4

The Graphs Illustrating the Relationship between log(P) and v

We have 5 different graphs for the 5 pipes and theyre shown below;

1st pipe
0
-0.1

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

-0.2

log(P)

-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
-0.8
-0.9

log(v)

2nd pipe
0
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

-0.2

log()P

-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2
-1.4

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log (v)

0.4

0.5

3rd pipe
0
0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

-0.1

log(P)

-0.2
-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7

log(v)

4th pipe
0
-0.05

-0.1 0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

-0.2

log (P)

-0.3
-0.4
-0.5
-0.6
-0.7
-0.8
-0.9
-1

log (v)

5th pipe
0
-0.1

-0.05

0.05

-0.2

log (P)

-0.4
-0.6
-0.8
-1
-1.2
-1.4

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log (v)

0.1

0.15

Discussion:
At the end of this experiment, we are supposed to have the head loss at each pipe of the five pipes with
different flow rates and to measure the velocity in each one by the method explained from the latter, but
obviously we ran into a problem concerning the hydraulic bench having some kind of a malfunction and settled
for the given readings instead assuming of course that they are correct.
As always there is no lab work what so ever that is purely accurate, some errors must happen as human
is not a perfect machine that accurately make everything go perfect, some of the errors that may happen is the
inaccuracy in measuring the head loss by not being horizontal with the surface of the top of the fluid making
your readings wrong and have errors; another reason in addition is inaccuracy in measuring the time took the
water to fill the graduated cylinder, making some errors in calculations; and moving the tubes while measuring
or stepping on them cause the head loss readings incorrect; and of course the formula I used to calculate the
Reynoldss Number is meant to be for a flow that we know is Laminar which is a big mistake as it may be
Turbulent, but my understanding of the procedure and theory convinced me to actually use this step; errors
happened also in drawing the graphs as we did not have a graph like in the manual caused by the previous errors
and many other reasons cause errors to this experiment and its calculations.
As I mentioned above the angle in the laminar state should be 45o in the graph, theres no doubt that the
graphs dont show the transition between the laminar and turbulent because of the lack of points per reading
and the reasons I mentioned earlier

Conclusion:
so in conclusion, we got to know the how to calculate the head loss in smooth pipes subjected to major losses
which are mainly the friction, we used the formulas in order to compute the readings but we didnt compute
the percentage error in this experiment. Units and their conversions are extremely important to the accuracy
of this lab work considering the already discussed errors. The graphs were meant to show us the flow type as
it starts laminar with 45 degrees and then it passes through the transitional period and gets turbulent after
that but due to some inaccurate measures they dont really make us distinguish between the latter flow types.

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