PIPING/FLUID FLOW

Explicit friction factor correlation

for pipe flow analysis
Use this representation of the universal law of friction
to obtain accurate estimates
J. R. 5ONNAO, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma, and C. T. GOUDAR,* Bayer HealthCare, Berkeley, California

ommon tasks performed during piping system design

include computing pressure drop, volumetric flowrate and 10 I I iiiii| 111 nnT[
pipe diameter. The Darcy-Weisbach equation describes the 0.010
relationship between these parameters:

(I) 0.008
R
where: A/* = pressure drop o
f= Fanning friction factor 0.006 J2
p = fluid density o
L = pipe length P
V- fluid velocity 0.004"-
-30
R = pipe diameter.
Blasius, 1913
Estimating the friction factor is necessary for most pipe design •••• McAdams, 1954 0.002
cases. This can be readily done under laminarflowconditions as: -40
- Bhatti and Shah, 1987
Friction Factor
C2) -50 1 11 mill I I Iiiiitl I I1 iiDil I I Im i l l I I I [MM 0.000
Re 103 104 105 106 108 109
Reynolds number
where: Re = Reynolds number. For turbulent flow, however, the
relationship between/and Re is more complex: Error associated with computing friction factor from
correlations 1-3 inTabie 1.
0.4 (3)

for computer implementation. The empirical approximations

Eq. 3 is also referred to as the universal law of fiction and
is attributed to the work of Nikuradse, Prandtl and von Kar-
man.'"-'Eq. 3 is implicit in^^ and iterative computational tech-
niques are necessary to estimate/" from Eq. 3 when Re is known.
While such calculations can be readily performed given current
computing power, it is convenient to have an explicit represen-
tation of Eq. 3 that would simplify/estimation. Moreover, in
problems involving complicated piping networks, considerable
gains in computation time can be achieved if/can be calculated
in a noniterative fashion.
Two approaches have been primarily used thus far to avoid
iterative estimation of/from Eq. 3. These include the/vs. Re
chart or the Moody diagram"* that allows for graphical estima-
tion of/when the Reynolds number is known and, alternatively,
the use of explicit empirical approximations to Eq. 3''^"" that
provide friction factor estimates of varying accuracy. The visual
nature of the graphical approach is appealing, but it is not suited
* Corresponding auth
vary in their accuracy and also do not span the entire range of
turbulent flow conditions encountered in practice. Significant
errors in/can result if these approximations are used outside their
applicable ranges.
Recently, we have, for the first time, proposed an explicit rep-
resentation of Eq. 3 that is mathematically exact and involves no
empiricisms or approximations.'"
exp
= 0.4 (4)
ln(lO)'
where W\% the Lambert Wfunction'^ and the constants a and
^have not been simplifled to maintain the accuracy of this rep-
resentation. We have shown that/values computed using Eq.
4 are accurate to machine precision (16 significant digits for
double-precision calculations) over the entire range of turbu-
HYDROCARBON PROCESSING JUNE 2005 103
PIPING/FLUID FLOW

. 1 1 1 1 > ' lll"| ] 1 1 1 riiil| 1 1 1 lll)l| 1 1 1 MILL 10 r 1 iiini]—rrmrni—mrrmp rnmi—rr rrnni—i i mm

: Nikuradse, 1932 / 0.010
15 7 0.010
\ Drew, etai., 1954 /
: \ -—'• Bhatti and Shall, 1987 / - 0 - '"'•• s.
1 \ ^ ^ Friction Fartor / / - • -
0.008 \ / ^ -— 0.008
\ \
- •V ^ -
ion factor

^ ' \ . yy A
• \ ^
l/l

c \ \ o
\
-
0.006 j j 0.006 4S

\\
O

•2 -20 -- \ c
\

oil
- o
- \
S -5 - \ ;€
0.004 ^ - \ -_ 0.004 '^
o -30 —- \
- \
"^-10 - _ \
- Blasius, 1913 ^^^^ \
0.002 -40 McAdams. 1954 - 0.OO2
-15 - - Bhatti and Shah 1987
^ ^ Friction Factor
\
\
-?0 1 1 iiMiil 1 1 1 mill 1 1 1 mil! 1 1 1 mill i i i iiml1 I 1 mil0.000 -50 11 \ 1 li 1ml 1 MIllll 1
111 1 0.000
103 10* 105 106 10? 108 109 10* 105 106 107 108
Reynolds number Reynolds number

FIG. 2 Error associated with computing friction factor from k. 3 Error associated with computing friction factor from
correlations 4-6 in Table 1. turrelations 7-9 in Table 1.

lent flow conditions (4,000 < Re< 10^).'-Availability »= 1 Comparison of errors in f estimates from various
of highly accurate/values allows for examining the approximations of Eq. 3
accuracy of existing empirical correlations for/esti-
mation. In this study, we will use Eq. 4 to characterize Correlation Range of error in f. % Reference
the errors in existing empirical approximations for -46.76 10 2,76
Eq. 3 and also present a simple method for estimat-
2 /= -22.23 to 2.42
ing/from Eq. 4. The accuracy and simplicity of Eq. 4
should make it the method of choice for/"estimation 3 f= -18.86 to 2.34
in turhulent flow. 4 f = 0.0014 -0.48 to 17.41

5 f = 0.0008 -14.43 to 1.14

Comparison with empirical approxima-
t i o n s . To characterize the accuracy of commonly 6 f = -2.64 t o l 1.17
used explicit approximations, 1,000 logarithmically
spaced Re values in the 4,000 < Re < \0^ range were
chosen, and the corresponding/values were com- -0.26 to 3.75
puted for each approximation. These values were
subsequently compared with those from Eq. 4, and
the percentage error i n / w a s estimated. The range -0.69 to 1.65 10
of errors i n / for each approximation is presented in
Table 1. The correlations are arranged in decreasing
order of maximum error. = -1.7372ln
[i.964ln(Re)-3.8215 -0.34 to 0.04 11
The associated error profiles are presented in Figs.
1-3 as functions of Re. Note that not all approxima-
tions in Table 1 are valid over the entire Re range
(4,000 < ^c < 10^) used in this study. However, we have inten- Re f h
tionally studied them over this extended range since such con- x = —exp
ditions are commonly encountered in practice. The approxi- a \ a
mations vary widely in accuracy, with simpler functional forms is computed from the known Re value. Subsequently, W^x) is
being characterized by high error in/estimates. The accuracy determined as:
of/estimation improves with increasing functional com-
plexity. The approximations of Colebrook'" and Techo and
coworkers" are adequately accurate for practical application. In
(Inx)'
Using the new explicit representation for f compu-
t a t i o n . Several methods exist to calculate/from Eq. 4,'^ and 1.124491989777808
h= (5)
we will illustrate one such method. Initially, the value of the W 0.4225028202459761-I- ln(x)
function argument,

104 JUNE 2005 HYDROCARBON PROCESSING

 PIPING/FLUID FLOW

Once W{x) is known, the friction factor can be readily obtained
from Eq. 4.
As an illustration, we will use this approach to estimate/^ when
Re = 10^. The value of x is first estimated as:
The corresponding h value from Eq. (5) is 0.9041, which re,sults
in a W{x) value of 8.5804. When these values are used in Eq. 4, the
restating \'alue of/is 0.0045. This simple procedure, which involves x
estimation followed by calculating VC^x) and, subsequently,/Involves
no iterations and can be readily performed on a spreadsheet or any
other computing environment. Moreover, existing pipe flow software
can be readily modified to include this approach as a replacement for
iterative/estimation. HP
LITERATURE CITED
' Nikuradse, J., "Gesetzmassigkeic der turbulcnrcn srromung in glatren riihren."
Ver. Dtsch. Ing.-Forschungsh, 356, 1932.
- Prandil, L,., "Neuere ergebnisse der turbulenzforschung," Z. Ver. Deutsch. Ing.,
77,1933, pp. 105-114.
•' von Kiirman, T, "Turbulence and skin friction,"/ A^^osp. Set.. 7, 1934, pp.
1-20.
^ Moody, L, E, "Friction factors for pipe How," Trans. ASMF. 66, 1944, pp.
671-684.
'' Blasius, H,, "Das ahnlickhkeicsge.seiz bel reibungsvorgangen in flussigkeiren,"
Forschg.^rA, hg.-Wes.. 131. 1913.
^- McAdams, W, H., Heat Transmission, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1954,
' Bharri, M. S, and R. K, Shah, "Turbulent and cransicion flow convective hear
transfer in ducts," in: S. Kaka^, R,K. Shah and W. Aung (Eds.), Handbook of
single-phase convective heat transfer, Wiley, New York, 1987, pp. 4.1 — 4.166.
^ Drew, T. B., R. C, Koo and W, H. McAdams, "The friction factor for clean
round pipes," Trans. AIChE 28. 1932, pp, 56-72.
^ Filonenko, G. K.. "Hydraulic resistance in pipes," (in Russian) Teploenergetika
I. 1954, pp. 40-44.
'" Colebrook, C. F, "Turbulent flow in pipes with particular reference to the
transition region between the smooth and rough pipe laws,"/- '«•''• Civil Fng.,
II, 1938-1939, pp. 133-156.
" Techo, R,, R. R, Tickner and R. E. James, "An accurate equation for the com-
putation of the friction factor for smooth pipes from the Reynolds number,"
/ Appl. Meek 32. 1965, p, 443.
'" Goudar, C. T, and J. R. Sonnad, "Explicit friction factor correlation for
turbulent fluid flow in smooth pipes," ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 42, 2003, pp.
2878-2880,
"Corless, R. M,, G. H. Gonnet, D. E. Hare, D. J. JefFrey and D. E. Knuth, "On
the Lambert W function," Adv. Comput. Math. 5, 1996, pp. 329-359.
J a g a d e e 5 h S o n n a d is currentiy an assistant professor in
Radiologicai Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences
Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His research interests include
various aspects of imaging in nuclear medicine, pharmacokinetic
modeling and image processing. Dr. Sonnad is a board certified
medical physicist in Nuclear Medicine.
C h e t a n G o u d a r is a process development scientist in the Bio-
logical Products division of Bayer HealthCare in Berkeley, California,
vhere he is developing optimized fermentation processes for high-
density perfusion cultn/ation of mammalian celis to manufacture
therapeutic proteins. His research interests are in the general areas
of applied mathematical modeling, bioenvironmental engineering, mammalian cell
cultivation and metabolic engineering. Mr. Goudar is a iicensed professionai engineer
in the state of California.

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