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Mechanics of Fluids

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7.5 FRICTION IN NON-CIRCULAR CONDUITS<br />

The majority <strong>of</strong> closed conduits used in engineering practice are <strong>of</strong> circular<br />

cross-section, but the friction loss in non-circular passages – for example,<br />

rectangular air ducts – quite <strong>of</strong>ten has to be estimated. Experiment shows<br />

that for many shapes the relations developed for turbulent flow in circular<br />

sections may be applied to non-circular shapes if an alternative variable<br />

is used in place <strong>of</strong> the diameter <strong>of</strong> the circle. The variable m, termed the<br />

hydraulic mean depth, is defined as the ratio <strong>of</strong> the cross-sectional area <strong>of</strong><br />

the flow, A, to the perimeter, P, in contact with the fluid.<br />

For a circular section flowing full<br />

m = A (π/4)d2<br />

=<br />

P πd<br />

d<br />

=<br />

4<br />

For non-circular sections, eqn 7.1 may be generalized to<br />

u 2<br />

hf = fl<br />

m 2g<br />

Friction in non-circular conduits 259<br />

(7.11)<br />

The introduction <strong>of</strong> m involves the assumption that the mean shear stress<br />

at the boundary is the same as for a circular section. For the circular section<br />

the stress is uniform (unless the roughness varies round the circumference)<br />

but for non-circular sections it is not. Contours <strong>of</strong> equal velocity are entirely<br />

parallel to the perimeter only in the circular section (see Fig. 7.7); in a<br />

rectangular section, for example, the velocity gradient is highest at the<br />

mid-point <strong>of</strong> a side, and least in the corners, and the shear stress varies<br />

accordingly. It is therefore to be expected that the less the shape deviates<br />

from a circle the more reliable will be the use <strong>of</strong> the hydraulic mean depth.<br />

The assumptions may be quite invalid for odd-shaped sections, but reasonable<br />

results are usually obtained with ovals, triangles and rectangles (if<br />

the longer side is not greater than about 8 times the shorter). For annuli<br />

between concentric cylinders the larger diameter must be at least 3 times the<br />

smaller. (Note that for an annulus the relevant perimeter used in determining<br />

the hydraulic mean depth is the total for inner and outer surfaces<br />

together.) The concept <strong>of</strong> hydraulic mean depth is not applicable at all to<br />

laminar flow.<br />

Fig. 7.7 Contours <strong>of</strong> equal<br />

velocity.

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