Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T10:56:01.940Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A new friction factor relationship for fully developed pipe flow

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2005

B. J. McKEON
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-0710, USA Present address: Department of Aeronautics, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
M. V. ZAGAROLA
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-0710, USA Present address: Creare Inc, Etna Road Box 71 Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA.
A. J. SMITS
Affiliation:
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544-0710, USA

Abstract

The friction factor relationship for high-Reynolds-number fully developed turbulent pipe flow is investigated using two sets of data from the Princeton Superpipe in the range $31 \,{\times}\, 10^3 \,{\le}\,\hbox{\it Re}_D \,{\le}\, 35 \,{\times}\, 10^6$. The constants of Prandtl's ‘universal’ friction factor relationship are shown to be accurate over only a limited Reynolds-number range and unsuitable for extrapolation to high Reynolds numbers. New constants, based on a logarithmic overlap in the mean velocity, are found to represent the high-Reynolds-number data to within 0.5%, and yield a value for the von Kármán constant that is consistent with the mean velocity profiles themselves. The use of a generalized logarithmic law in the mean velocity is also examined. A general friction factor relationship is proposed that predicts all the data to within 1.4% and agrees with the Blasius relationship for low Reynolds numbers to within 2.0%.

Type
Papers
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)