Note: Absolute roughness of copper pipe? Apparatus: Pipe apparatus. A copy of these notes and observation sheet. Procedure – Pressure drop (Heal Loss) in pipes: Measure the temperature of the water and use published data to determine the viscosity of the water. (Table 1) Table 1: Dynamic and Kinematic Viscosity in SI. Pipe Roughness Coefficients Type of Piping Material “C” Factor Unlined Cast/Ductile Iron Pipe 100 Cement-Lined Cast/Ductile Iron Pipe 140 Steel Pipe (Dry Systems/Pre-action Systems) 100 Steel Pipe (Wet Systems/Deluge Systems) 120 Galvanized Steel Pipe 120 Plastic Tubing 150 Copper Tubing 150 Note 1: Unli ned c ast iron and unl ine d duc. Pipe and Duct Systems Table A.1 Average roughness of commercial pipes. Table A.6 Data for copper pipes Weight per Linear Foot of Gallons of Pipe and Water per Water (lb) Linear Foot Diameter (in.) Material Nominal Inner Outer Copper Type L 1/4 0.315 0.375 0.16 0.004.
Commercial pipes comes in many different materials and many different sizes. The internal roughness of a pipe is an important factor when considering the friction losses of a fluid moving through the pipe.
For each pipe material either a single pipe roughness value or a range of roughness values is normally provided by the manufacturer. The roughness value, usually denoted as e, is used in the calculating the relative roughness of a pipe against the size of its diameter.
Absolute Roughness
The roughness of a pipe is normally specified in either mm or inches and common values range from 0.0015 mm for PVC pipes through to 3.0 mm for rough concrete pipes.
Relative Roughness
The relative roughness of a pipe is its roughness divided by its internal diameter or e/D, and this value is used in the calculation of the pipe friction factor, which is then used in the Darcy-Weisbach equation to calculate the friction loss in a pipe for a flowing fluid.
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Pipe Materials and Common Pipe Roughness Values
| Material | e (mm) | e (inches) |
| Concrete | 0.3 - 3.0 | 0.012 - 0.12 |
| Cast Iron | 0.26 | 0.010 |
| Galvanized Iron | 0.15 | 0.006 |
| Asphalted Cast Iron | 0.12 | 0.0048 |
| Commercial or Welded Steel | 0.045 | 0.0018 |
| PVC, Glass, Other Drawn Tubing | 0.0015 | 0.00006 |
Pipe Materials and Pipe Diameter Database
Our Pipe Flow Expert software comes with its own database of pipe materials and pipe diameters, which includes the pipe roughness values and standard material schedules of many types of pipe. Users can also add their own pipe data for any material and any pipe size if required.
Roughness Coefficient Of Copper Pipe
Pipe materials in the Pipe Flow Expert pipe database include Cast Iron (Class A,B and C), Copper Tube (Type X,Y,K,L,M), HDPE (SDR 7.3 to SDR 26), PVC (Schedule 40, 80, and CL100 to CL315), Stainless Steel (Schedule 5s, 10s, 40s), Steel (Schedule 40,80,160) and more.
Roughness Of Copper Pipe
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