2.2.2.

Head loss in hydraulic installations

In the case of real liquids motion part of its energy is dissipated and transformed into thermal energy
(energie calorica), due to the internal friction in the liquid. The friction is produced by the viscosity,
turbulence of the motion, roughness of the pipe (rugozitatii tubului), and b several physical obstacles
(fittings, valves, diameter changes etc.)
The head losses are of 2 types:
distributed losses (h
d
) along a flow with constant parameters (speed, cross-sections etc.)
local losses (h
l
) taking place in the obstacles location. In these points the flow changes its
parameters.
With these the head loss h
r1-2
reads:

h
r1-2
=h
d
+h
l


In Bernoullis equation all terms (v,p,z) can be analytically computed fairly easily, except head loss h
d

and h
l
as they depend on a lot of parameters.
For practical use of Bs equation, there are empirical formulas for the head losses inferred from
experimental investigations. There is a general formula for the head loss:

g
v
h
r
2
2
2 1
=

where is an adimentional coefficient experimentally computed for both the distributed and local loss.

Distributed head losses
The parameters that influence the distributed head loss are:
flow length: L I h
d
= ; L=flow length;
hydraulic radius (R);
R
h
d
1
;
liquid nature;
flow regime;
roughness of the walls.
The last thing can be viewed as a geometrical property of the walls. It depends on the materials used,
on the degree of wall finishing (grad de prelucrare a peretilor), and on the pipe age.
There is a real roughness of any pipe which is difficult to define mathematically. Instead an
EQUIVALENT ARTIFICAL ROUGHNESS is used, which can be expressed in terms of virtual
spheres diameters. From experimental investigations, conducted on real pipes (of a several diameters,
ages, materials) the distributed head losses have been measured. Pipes of same length diameter,
materials, with an artificial equivalent roughness (in the form of all spheres of certain diameters stuck
on the pipe wall) producing the same head loss as the real ones have been used to equivalate the real
roughness. The artificial roughness is then transformed into a relative artificial roughness:
0
r

for pipes
R

for unrestricted flow;

Finally, the general form of the distributed head loss becomes:
L
d
L
d g
v
h
d
=

=


2
2


the coefficient expressing the inner friction (inside the liquid, between liquid and pipe), called
exchange coefficient (coeficient de rezistenta), also known as the coefficient Darcy-Weisbach.

|
|

\
|
=
0
,
r
R f
e


The importance of led to a lot of experiments by many authors. The results show that the two
parameters R
e
and
0
r

have a different influence on .

To show this we take two extreme situations:
in case of laminar flow
e
R
64
=
in the case of a maximum (quadratic) turbulence
2
71 . 3
log 4
1
(

=
d

In the case of an intermediate flow:

|
|

\
|

+ =
d R
e
71 , 3
51 , 2
log 2
1



In Civil Engineering, we recommend 2 simple formulas:
in case of pressure flow
2
0
Q s I
l I hd
=
=
(Sevelevs formula)
in case of unrestricted flow
R C
v
I

=
2
2
(Chezy formula)
where s
0
, , C are given coefficient depending on diameter, material, speed (see Laboratory classes)

Local head losses
g
v
h
e
2
2
= (general form of head losses)
depends on the specificity of the obstacles
has been experimentally computed for the entire set of obstacles met in hydraulic practice
(see Laboratory classes).





Hydraulic systems with pressure flows

A hydraulic system with pressure flow (hspf) is made up of:
- outlet openings (orificii de scurgere)
- mouthpiece (ajutate, stuturi)
- pipes (conducte)
- tanks (rezervoare)
- pumps (pompe)
- valves (ventile, vane, robinete, supape) etc.

through which, the fluid flows under a pressure generally greater than the atmospheric pressure (a.p.).
In certain causes this pressure is less than a.p., but it has no free surface in contact with the outside
atmosphere.

The h.s.p.f. can be grouped in three classes:
long systems (lg.s)
short systems (sh.s)
local systems (lc.s)

The problems of the h.s.p.f. are:
1. dimensioning (computation of pipes diameters etc.)
2. checking of the system (given diameters find the transportation capacity flow Q or the
pressure p/

The mathematical tool for both problems is the Bernoullis equation:

+ + + + = + +

g
v
Q L s z
p
g
v
z
p
g
v
2 2 2
2
2
2
2 1 0 2
2
2
2
1
1
2
1

which also may put in the form:
g
v
g
v
Q L s
g
v
z
p
z
p
i
2 2 2
2
1
2
2 2
2 1 0
2
2
2 1

+ + =
|
|

\
|
+
|
|

\
|
+

The Bernoullis equation has specific forms for each tipe of h.s.p.f.

Long systems (lg.s)
Definition: a lg.s. is the system which along relative long distance does not change its geometrical and
hydraulic parameters (diameters, speed etc.) For instance an aqueduct (apeduct) as it is Gilau-Cluj, is a
lg.s.
A consequence of the definition is that in above Bernoullis equation the kinetic terms (av
2
/2g) and the
local head losses (h
e
) can be neglected and the Bernoullis equation takes form:
2
2 1 0
2 1
Q L s z
p
z
p
=
|
|

\
|
+
|
|

\
|
+

which is a relative simple form easily to be used in the two problems of dimensioning or checking the
systems.

Short systems (sh.s) Definition: a sh.s is a system that along small distances changes its geometrical
and hydraulic parameters. For example water supply distribution networks inside towns. A
consequence of this definition is that we can no longer neglect any terms in the Bernoullis equation,
and therefore two problems (dimensioning and checking) are more complicated, than in case of lg.s.
The Bernoullis has the general form.

Local systems (lc.s)
Definition: the lc.s is a concentrated system having a sudden head loss (o cadere brusca de presiune).
Example mouthpieces (ajutaje), overfalls (deversoare), outlet openings (orificii).
A consequence of the definition is that in the general form of Bernoullis equation the distributed head
losses can be neglected and equation takes form:
g
v
g
v
g
v
z
p
z
p
i
2 2 2
2
1
2
2
2
2
2 1

+ =
|
|

\
|
+
|
|

\
|
+
In the following some specific computations (dimensioning, checking) is presented for lc.s. and sh.s.
The computation for lg.s. will be presented during the laboratory classes as they are simple cases.