Practical Approach to Pressure Losses Due to Friction in Design

Fluid mechanics courses cover energy and flow distribution problems, which are important in various industries. Pressure loss calculation due to friction in pipe elements is crucial in hydraulic design. Therefore, teaching must stimulate students’ understanding of the design and calculation of different scenarios presented along their career, starting in the classroom, followed in some cases by research and/or industrial scenarios. In this work, a tool called UiT Pipeline Designer Calculator or UiT-PDC is created to demonstrate the calculation of pressure losses and highlight the similarities and differences of these scenarios. The UiT-PDC uses MS Excel as the platform for the calculations. It utilises two frequently used theoretical models, namely the Darcy-Weisbach and Hazen-Williams, as well as three distinct standards that correspond to the oil industry, water distribution, and ventilation (NORSOK, AWWA, and ASRHAE, respectively) to design and compare the losses present in a given pipeline system. The students must input the diameter and relative roughness of the pipe to evaluate, together with the type of fluid in hand. After selecting the different models (theoretical and/or standards), the tool graphically shows the errors among the different models used, along with the pressure losses in the system, allowing the user to analyse the differences obtained for the design. With this tool, the students can be introduced to the use of the standards as an extra step in the design process earlier, as they learn about the concepts of fluid mechanics.