Evaluation of explicit friction factor equations for pipes

Abstract

Within Chemical Engineering, there are a lot of problems involving fluids in motion, and for theirsolution we must consider the causes of the movement. In this case there is a force that stops fluidfrom moving, called friction. The evaluation of this term comes from and extended analysis of all theforces that cause stress on a differential element of volume in the bulk of the fluid. The objective ofthis paper is to evaluate different mathematical models that describe in an explicit form the frictionfactor of a fluid in a pipe. We acomplish this by comparing the numerical values against the Colebrook-White equation and the Kármán number. Needless to say there is not a perfect model to describethis kind of phenomena. But we hope to expand the knowledge of the reader, and let him tochoose the best model depending on the situation.