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Equivalent Lengths - Engineered Software Knowledge Base - Global Site

This document discusses equivalent lengths, which express valve and fitting losses as an added length in hydraulic calculations. It shows that equivalent length and loss coefficient methods give similar but not identical results. Using loss coefficients retains actual pipeline length in reports and graphs valve/fitting losses separately. Equivalent length data can be converted to loss coefficients using provided equations.

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70 views

Equivalent Lengths - Engineered Software Knowledge Base - Global Site

This document discusses equivalent lengths, which express valve and fitting losses as an added length in hydraulic calculations. It shows that equivalent length and loss coefficient methods give similar but not identical results. Using loss coefficients retains actual pipeline length in reports and graphs valve/fitting losses separately. Equivalent length data can be converted to loss coefficients using provided equations.

Uploaded by

machineman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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18/03/2019 Equivalent Lengths - Engineered Software Knowledge Base - Global Site

Pages / … / General Theory and Equations

Equivalent Lengths
Created by Product Engineer on Aug 28, 2014

When the equivalent length method is used to account for valve and fitting losses, the valve/fitting loss is expressed as a
length which is added to the actual pipeline length. When the equivalent length is substituted into the Darcy-Weisbach
equation, the loss due to the valve/fitting is as follows:

2
Le v
(1) hL(VF) = f ( )
D 2g

where, hL(VF) = valve/fitting head loss


f = friction factor
Le = equivalent length
v = fluid velocity
D = pipe diameter
g = gravitational constant

Many engineering handbooks contain tables of equivalent lengths.

When the loss coefficient (or K value) method is used, the K value is multiplied by the velocity head to give the
valve/fitting head loss:

2
v
(2) hL(VF) = K
2g

From equations 1 and 2 it can be seen that:

Le
(3) K = f( )
D

To demonstrate that the two methods give similar results, we will compare two systems.Both of the systems have 100
feet long, 4 inch diameter pipes. Each pipeline has three long radius 90° elbows, one globe valve, and one swing check
valve.
The first pipeline (Pipe01) uses loss coefficients which are obtained from the standard valve and fitting table shipped with
PIPE-FLO. The total K value for all three valves/fittings is 7.856. The second pipeline (Pipe02) uses equivalent lengths
obtained from the table below:

Valve/Fitting Pipe Equivalent Length Quantity Total Length (ft)


Size (in) (ft)

Long Radius 90° 4 4.6 3 13.8


Elbow

Globe Valve, open 4 110 1 110

Swing Check Valve 4 38 1 38

Total Valve/Fitting Equivalent Length = 161.8


ft

For Pipe02, the total equivalent length of 161.8 ft is added to the pipeline length of 100 ft to give an overall length of 261.8
ft.

kb.eng-software.com/display/ESKB/Equivalent+Lengths 1/2
18/03/2019 Equivalent Lengths - Engineered Software Knowledge Base - Global Site

As expected, when the calculations are performed for these two pipelines, their results are not identical but they are
reasonably close (for a flow rate of 200 US gpm, Pipe01 has a pressure drop of 2.321 psi and Pipe02 has a pressure
drop of 2.572 psi).

One benefit to using valves and fittings, instead of the equivalent length, is that the length listed for a pipeline in the
printed reports will be the actual length.Another advantage in using the loss coefficients in PIPE-FLO is that when you
view the pipeline in the Graph Window the head loss due to the valves/fittings (the minor loss) is graphed along with the
total pipeline loss.

If you have equivalent length data and you would rather use loss coefficients, you can calculate the corresponding K
values using equation 3. You can then enter the calculated K values as Fixed K's in the Valve & Fittings tab. If you have a
number of valves/fittings for which you have equivalent length data, you can calculate the corresponding K values and
then create your own valve/fitting table.

kb.eng-software.com/display/ESKB/Equivalent+Lengths 2/2

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