Simple and Accurate Friction Loss Equation for Plastic Pipe

Abstract

The Blasius equation which has been verified by many researchers and has been recently shown to work very well for small diameter plastic pipe can be combined with the Darcy-Weisbach equation to give a simple and accurate equation written in terms of flow rate, pipe length, and pipe diameter. It allows for correcting for viscosity changes, and is very accurate for flows resulting in Reynolds numbers less than 100,000. Unlike other commonly used empirical equations in a similar form, this equation is theoretically sound and dimensionally homogeneous.