Pipe pressure drop

Pressure drop, head and pumping power for liquid flow in a pipe: Colebrook friction factor on the Moody chart, fittings and valves by the Crane method, elevation — and every Schedule 40 size side by side at the same flow.

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INPUTSI · m · kPa

1 · Fluid and flow

Fluid Temperature [°C] 5–80

Flow Given as

2 · Pipe Size Schedule 40 Material new, clean

Length L [m] Rise Δz [m] outlet above inlet

3 · Fittings and valves how many

90° elbow, standard (threaded) 90° elbow, long radius 45° elbow, standard Tee, flow through run Tee, flow through branch Gate valve, open Ball valve, full bore, open Butterfly valve, open (2–8″) Globe valve, open Swing check valve Entrance, sharp-edged Entrance, inward projecting Exit into a tank Other losses, ΣK from a datasheet

4 · Pump optional Pump efficiency η [%] 0 = hydraulic power only

Results update as you type. The size table below compares every Schedule 40 size at the same flow.

MOODY CHART

Δp · TOTAL40503 Pa

v · VELOCITY1.28 m/s

Re67136

f · FRICTION FACTOR0.0227

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HOW IT'S CALCULATED · WITH YOUR NUMBERS

Step by step, with your numbers

01
Equilibrium████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██
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Reactions████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██
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Shear force████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██
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Bending moment████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██
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Deflection████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██
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Stress████ ██ ███████ · ██████ = ██.██

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Darcy–Weisbach with the Colebrook–White friction factor; fittings by Crane TP-410. Water: Kell (1975), IAPWS 2008. Pipe sizes: ASME B36.10M. Roughness: Moody (1944).

ASSUMPTIONS & LIMITS

Steady, incompressible, isothermal flow of a single-phase Newtonian liquid filling the pipe.
Fully developed flow; the friction factor is the Colebrook–White value for the roughness entered (Moody chart).
Roughness of new, clean pipe. Corrosion, scale and deposits raise it with age — allow for that in the design.
Fitting losses by the Crane TP-410 equivalent-length method, fully open valves, fittings far enough apart not to interact.
Velocity head the same at inlet and outlet (one diameter throughout); the exit loss, if any, is entered as a fitting.
Not for gases with a large pressure drop (more than about 10 % of the inlet pressure), two-phase flow or cavitation — check the lowest pressure against the vapour pressure separately.

DISCLAIMER · For education and preliminary sizing only. Results must be reviewed by a qualified engineer before use in design.

BEYOND ONE PIPE

Networks, pump selection, transients and CFD of the flow itself — we model the whole system.

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