Fluid Mechanics Practice Test: Flow Through Pipes — Flashcards

Flow Through Pipes topics include: Pipes, hydraulic gradient, series and parallel pipes, nozzles flow, pipes water hammer and pipe network.

In fluid mechanics, pipe flow is the movement of a liquid through a closed conduit, such as a pipe or tube. 

The steady flow of an incompressible fluid in pipes is defined by two laws:
Law of conservation of mass: (continuity equation)
Principle of energy conservation: (Bernoulli equation) 
The velocity of a fluid in a pipe changes from zero at the surface to a maximum at the pipe center. In incompressible flow, the average velocity remains constant when the cross-sectional area of the pipe is constant. 
Depending on the velocity and viscosity of the fluid, either laminar flow or turbulent flow may occur when a fluid is flowing through a closed channel: Laminar flow, Turbulent flow, Transitional. 
Fluid flows by virtue of the energy gradient. Energy is the potential that causes the flow of real fluids in pipes or any other flowing devices. 

Minor losses that occur in the flow through pipes include:
Loss due to sudden contraction
Loss due to sudden expansion
Entrance loss
Exit loss 

These losses have less contribution to the total loss occurred in the flow