Fluid Flow

Power Law Fluid

This web application calculates pressure drop in a straight pipe due to flow of a non-Newtonian power law fluid.

Pipe Data

Pipe Size (inch) Schedule / Thickness

Pipe Length, L

Fitting Loss, k

Fluid Data

Result

Reynold's Number

Reynolds number for the power law fluid is defined as -

\displaystyle \displaystyle Re = \frac{D^{n}V^{2-n}\rho}{8^{n-1}K\left(\frac{3n+1}{4n}\right)^{n}}

where, D is pipe inside diameter, V is fluid velocity and ρ is fluid density.

Friction Factor

Friction factor for turbulent flow was developed by Dodge and Metzner -

\displaystyle \displaystyle \frac{1}{\sqrt{f}}=\frac{4.0}{n^{0.75}}\log\left(Ref^{1-n/2}\right)-\frac{0.4}{n^{1.2}}

For Re < 2100, flow is laminar and friction factor is calculated as

\displaystyle \displaystyle f = \frac{16}{Re}

Reference