CHAPTER 5

FLOW THROUGH PIPES

.. INTRODUCTION (FROM 5.1)
Objective
To measure the pressure drop in the straight
section of smooth and rough pipes as a function
of flow rate.
To correlate this in terms of the friction factor
and Reynolds number.
To compare results with available theories and
correlations and develop equation for pipe flow
design and analysis .
To determine the influence of pipe fittings on
pressure drop
To develop methodology of analysis for pipes in
series, parallel and branching, and pipe networks
introduction from 5.3..
 Multiple Pipe system
If you can solve the
equations for one-pipe
systems, you can solve
them all; but when
systems contain two or
more pipes, certain
basic rules make the
calculations very
smooth.

Examples of multiple-pipe systems: (a) pipes in series;

(b) pipes in parallel; (c) the three reservoir junction problem.
 5.4 Pipes in Series

Pipes in series
Rule1: Volume flow rate is constant QA = QB
VAAA = VBAB
Rule 2: Head loss is the summation of headloss in each
pipe hL, 1-2 = hL,A + hL,B

Head-loss equation
 5.5 Pipes in parallel

Pipes in parallel

Rule 1: Volume flow rate is the sum of the components

QA = QB= Q1 + Q2
Rule 2: Pressure loss across all branches is the same
hL, A-B = hL,1 = hL,2
 5.6 Branching Pipes

Consider the third

example of a three-
reservoir pipe
junction, as in
shown in the figure

If all flows are considered positive toward the

junction, then Q1 + Q2 + Q3 = 0 Eqn. 1
which obviously implies that one or two of the flows
must be away from the junction.
The pressure must change through each pipe so as to give
the same static pressure pJ at the junction.
 ..5.6 Branching Pipes
In other words, let the HGL
at the junction have the
elevation

where pJ is in gage pressure for simplicity

Then the head loss through each, assuming p1 = p2 = p3 = 0
(gage) at each reservoir surface, must be such that
We guess the position hJ and solve Eqs. 2
for V1, V2, and V3 and hence Q1, Q2, and
Q3, iterating until the flow rates balance
at the junction according to the Eqn. 1
(Q1 + Q2 + Q3 = 0 )
If we guess hJ too high, the sum Q1 Q2
Q3 will be negative and the remedy is to
Eqn. 2
reduce hJ, and vice versa.
 Example 1: pipes in series

The fluid is water, =1000 kg/m3 and =1.02x10-6 m2/s.

Determine the flow rate Q in m3/h through the system.

Fig. 1
.Example 1: pipes in series
.Example 1: pipes in series
Moody Diagram
Example 2: Pipes in parallel
Assume that the same three pipes in Example 1 are now in parallel
with the same total head loss of 20.3 m. Compute the total flow rate
Q, neglecting minor losses.

The fluid is
water, =1000
kg/m3 and
=1.02x10-6 m2/s.
Example 2: parallel
 Example 3: Branching pipes
Take the same three pipes as in Example 1, and assume that they
connect three reservoirs at these surface elevations
z1=20m z2=100m z3=40m
Determine the resulting flow rates in each pipe, neglecting
minor losses.

The fluid is water, =1000

kg/m3 and =1.02x10-6 m2/s.
 .Example 3: Branching pipes

This is close enough;

hence we calculate
that the flow rate is
52.4 m3/h toward
reservoir 3, balanced
by 47.1 m3/h away
from reservoir 1 and
6.0 m3/h away from
reservoir 3.
One further iteration
with this problem
would give hJ =34.53
m, resulting in
Q1=52.8,
Q2 = 47.0, and Q3=
5.8 m3/h, so that
Q=0 to three-place
accuracy.
 5.7 Pipe Networks
The ultimate case of a multi-pipe system is the piping
network illustrated in Fig. below.
This might represent a water supply system for an
apartment or subdivision or even a city.
This network is quite complex algebraically but follows the
same basic rules:
Basic Rules
1. The net flow into any junction
must be zero.
2. The net head loss around any
closed loop must be zero. In
other words, the HGL at each
junction must have one and
only one elevation.
3. All head losses must satisfy
the Moody and minor-loss
friction correlations.
 ..Pipe networks analysis
(a) Head Balance Method for Pipe Networks (Method of
Hardy-Cross)
This method is used when the total volume rate of flow
through the network is known, but the heads or pressures at
junctions within the network are unknown.
For each pipe, an assumption must first be made of the
direction and flow rate Q so as to satisfy the condition that the
inflow to each junction must equal the outflow from that
junction.
Neglecting losses other than friction for any pipe, we can write

The constant x is 2 for turbulent flow, as found by Darcy-Weisbach

equation, and 1.85 for Hazen-Williams formula
 ..Pipe networks analysis

The remaining terms in the expansion may be neglected if dQ is small compared to

Qi.
..Pipe networks analysis
..Pipe networks analysis
 Other Pipe Flow Formulas
1. Chezys Equation V=CR1/2 S1/2 Note S=hf/L
2. Mannings Equation V=1/nR2/3 S1/2 Note S=hf/L
3. Hazen-Williams Formula
The Hazen-Williams formula has be developed specially
for use with water and has been generally accepted as
the formula used for pipe flow problems.

v 0.849CR 0.63 0.54

s
v = velocity of flow, m/s
R = hydraulic radius, m
S = slope of the energy
gradient hf/L
C = a roughness
Values of C in the Hazen-William Formula and of n in
coefficient the Manning Formula.
 Example 4
Analyze the pipe network given below using the head balance
method with the Darcy-Weisbach equation and find the flow rate
in each of the pipes. Take the Darcy-Weisbach coefficient (f or ) as
0.02 for all the pipes.

Pipe AB BC BD CE DE DG EH AF FG GH

L (m) 300 450 150 150 360 150 150 240 300 300

D (mm) 300 300 200 180 180 200 180 200 180 180
 ..Example 4
Solution: First off we need to start by assuming the discharges in
the pipes based on the principle that the flow entering a junction
equals the flow leaving the junction (Qin =Qout), thus

QAB 90, QAF 35, QFG 35, QBD 10, QDG 5,

QBC 55, QCE 5, QDE 5, QEH 10, QGH 15

Therefore, these approximate

discharges have to be modified
and balanced by the Hardy-
Cross method. The Darcy-
Weisbach equation can be
written as,

8 L
h 2 Q 2
K * Q 2

g D5
.Example 4

hi
dQ n
i

x
hi
i
Qi 0
.Example 4

hi
dQ n
i

x
hi
i
Qi 0
Example 4

hi
dQ n
i

x
hi
i
Qi 0
 .Example 4

Final answer: Assuming the deviation is tolerable, the

discharges in the pipes will be,

Pipe AB BC BD CE DE DG EH AF FG GH
Q (lt/s) 98.8 46.3 27.4 3.7 10.6 13.1 10.7 26.2 26.2 14.3
Solving the simple three-loop network of Example 4 was
time consuming; right???
How about analysing a complex network for a city water
supply network as shown below. Simple or complex???
We need a hydraulic simulation model to analyse such
complex networks
THE END