On the History, Science, and Technology Included in the Moody Diagram

Abstract

This paper is a historical review of the science, both experimental and theoretical, behind the iconic Moody diagram used to avoid tedious iterations choosing pumps and pipes. The large body of historical pipe flow measurements and the choice of dimensionless groups and the Buckingham-Π theorem are also discussed. The traditional use of the Moody diagram to solve common pipe flow problem is discussed. Alternatives to the Moody diagram from the literature and novel ones presented here are shown to produce a solution without iteration for any type of pipe loss problem.