Experimental, Analytical and Computational Analysis of Roughness and Head Loss in PPRC Pipes

Various engineering system designs involve the utility of pipe flow in several forms. The wide domain of these applications includes usage in hydraulic and pneumatic pipes being utilized in aerospace, mechanical and civil engineering domains. For any engineering application involving sophisticated optimization, the relative/ absolute roughness of pipe and pipe friction factor must be known. PPRC (Polypropylene Random Copolymer) pipes are widely used for hot and cold applications in commercial applications. The friction factor for PPRC pipes of two different radii was determined experimentally by measuring the pressure drop across a known pipe length. The trend of friction factor was plotted against variation of Reynold’s Number (Re) and superimposed on the Moody Chart, whereby the relative and the absolute roughness of PPRC pipe was calculated. These experimentally determined values are crucial for determining the suitability of the material in different conduits.