NOTE TO THE EDITOR

An Explicit Approximation for the Friction

Factor#Reynolds Number Relation for Rough
And Smooth Pipes
G.F. ROUND"
Department of Chemical Engineering, Un iuersity of Kuwait, P.O. Box 5969, Kuwait

hen friction factors a r e needed for rough pipes,

a graphical relationship i.e., a Moody diagram"'
or an implicit relationship is used. Usually the implicit equation is that of Colebrook'*' upon which the
Moody diagram is based. Although there a r e a number of equations which have been proposed for a
wide range of Reynolds numbers for hydraulically
smooth pipes there are few which a r e applicable to
rough pipes. Usually these are inaccurate a t large
relative roughnesses ( d D )or they are expressed implicity in f , causing them to be difficult to use as well
being inaccurate a t large values of (dD).It would,
therefore be convenient to have an equation, explicit in
f, which would cover a wide range of Reynolds number
and relative roughness. Such an equation should be
easily programmable. The use of friction factor charts
such a s the Moody diagram would be obviated, which
would be particularly useful for pipe network problems.
There are two commonly used equations for turbulent flow in hydraulically smooth pipes, these are:
i ) that of B l a s i u ~ ' ~ '
f =

0.3164
Re0.26 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

.( 1 )

the limits of which are generally taken to be

4000

< Re < lo5

- - - 2.00 l o g , ~( R e d o - 0.8.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ( 2 )

d7

the limits of which a r e usually taken a s

< Re < 3

. . . . . . . . . . . (4)

d7

It may be noted in passing t h a t Equation (4)

reduces to Equation ( 2 ) when ( d D )= 0. Colebrook
based Equation (4) when he derived it, upon the
experimental work of Nikuradse"' who determined
friction factors and velocity profiles for flows in
artificially roughened pipes covering a Reynolds number range of 1000 to 10'.
Equations ( 2 ) , (3) and (4) are implicit equations
in f, making them difficult to use. More recently,
Swamee and Jain'?' have presented equations for the
determination of pipe diameter, discharge and head
loss in explicit form, each of which was based upon
the Colebrook equation. Each in t u r n was tested
against t h e Colebrook equation giving & 2% error for
pipe diameter and & 1.0% for head loss. The Colebrook
equation, a s i t stands as equation (41, can be written
explicitly in discharge form by rearrangement. Thus
all the equations presented to date have been based
essentially on Nikuradse's work. The various graphical
relations such as those of Moody"' have been based
on the Colebrook equation which in t u r n was based
upon Nikuradse's work.
Konakovt"' proposed an empirical, explicit equation
for smooth pipes
1

Re - 1.5)2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

f=

and
ii j the Prandtl-von Kbrmbn'*' equation

4000

-1
=

which is little known outside of Russian literature.

Equation ( 5 ) gives remarkably accurate predictions
of f for Reynolds numbers from 4000 to several tens
of millions. It has been modified by Altshult"' to
predict friction factors for rough pipes as

-- -

10'

Drew and G e n e r a ~ x ' ~

have
'
also presented an equation very similar to Equation ( 2 ) . I t is

(5)

dT

1.8

P~OKF 1..
..

Re D + 7

The drawbacks to these equations a r e : in the case

of Equation (1) the upper limit of Reynolds number
places a severe restriction on it, and in the cases
of Equations ( 2 ) and (3) the fact that they are
not written explicitly in f makes them awkward to
use.
For rough and smooth pipes, Colebrook'*' proposed

where K' is a roughness factor.

Equation (6) has been evaluated a t a number of
logarithmically equi-spaced values of Re and logarithmically equi-spaced ( d D )values. These are compared with values o f f found from t h e Colebrook equation in Table l. Also in Table l, in parentheses, are some
data from the same reference a s Altshul"'. These data
were generated by G. A. Murin and they purport to
be extremely precise although details of their precision a r e not given. These data have been used directly

*Visiting Professor

tReported in Nekrasov,'s book(8)

122

The Canadian Journal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 58, February 1980

Relative Roughness
Reynolds No.
Re
4000

104

lo&

108

107

108

(ID)
0.01

0.05

**
***
****
*****
**
***
****

0.0001

o.oooo1

0.041
0.0398
0.0400
(0.0408)

0.041
0.0397
0.0400
(0.0408)

0.041
0.0397
0.0400
(0.0408)

0.031
0.0306
0.0320
(0.0315)

0.031
0.0304
0.0309
(0.0315)

0.031
0.0304
0.0309
(0.0315)

0.018
0.0183
0.0186
(0.0185)

0.018
0.0177
0.0181
(0.0180)

0.014

0.012
0.0118
0.0119

0.066
0.0715
0.0770

0.047
0.0484
0.0491
(0.0462)

0.041
0.0407
0.0410
(0.0408)

0.061
0.0680
0.0738

0.040
0.0424
0.0431
(0.0415)

0.032
0.0320
0.0325
(0.03 15)

O*

I
_
_
-

*****
**
***
****
*****
**
***
****
*****

0.059
0.0658
0.0718
0.058
0.0655
0.0716

**
***
****
*****
**
***
****
*****

0.058
0.0655
0.0716

1
1
1

0.035
0.0380
0.0386
(0.0378)
0.034
0.0375
0.0380
(0.0378)
0.034
0.0375
0.0380
(0.0378)

<

0.020
0.0208
0.0200
(0.0197)
0.019
0.0206
0.0197
(0.0197)
0.019
0.0206
0.0197
(0.0197)

<

<
<

The values of kt and k2 giving a f i t to t h e data

which is better t h a n t h e Altshul equation - i n terms
of prediction of t h e friction factors at large roughnesses a r e :
0.135

kz = 6.5
Thus Equation (7) becomes

&) f 6.5

(0.013)
0.012

. . . . . . . (8)

Values of f predicted by Equation (8) are also given

in Table 1. I t can be seen, by inspection of Table 1,
t h a t at the largest relative roughnesses t h e Altshul
equation gives predictions which a r e lower t h a n t h e
Colebrook equation and t h e Murin data. Equation (8)
predicts, in general, values of f which are very close

0.009
0.00950
0.0090

(0.012)

0.012
0.0130
0.0120
(0.012)

1
1
1

0.0087
0.00900
0.0082

0.012
0.0115
0.0117
0.0080
0.00806
0.0082
0.0060
0.00598
0.0075

****Colebrookequation

Nomenclature
D

Diue. diameter
_

friction factor, h,/

h,
Re
V

=
=
=
=
=
=

friction head
Reynolds number, (udp/p)
average velocity
roughness
fluid viscosity
fluid density

0.135 (Re

1
t:t:!g 1
::::;; 1

0.018
0.0176
0.0180
(0.0176)

t o t h e Murin d a t a and slightly below those of t h e

Colebrook equation. A t very small values of (dD)
i.e. 0 to 0.00001 all t h e d a t a a r e i n close agreement.

p
p

Re

1
1
1

***Roundmodification of Altshul equation

Re
from t h e chart"' which extends from 4000
1 x lo' and roughness factors from 0
(D/K')
100; these correspond to 0
(ID) 0.01.
I n general t h e Colebrook equation predicts friction
factors which a r e larger than those of t h e Murin
data.
The Altshul equation may be improved, especially
a t higher values of (dD),
by slight adjustment. The
following modification i s suggested :

<
<

1
1
1

0.022
0.0226
0.0222
(0.0211)

0.034
0.0374
0.0380
(0.0378)

0.058
0.0655
0.0716

*Hydraulically smooth.
**Altshulequation
*****Dataof G. A. Murin

kl =

0.001

References
( 1 ) Moody, L. F., Trans. ASME 66, 671 (1944).
( 2 ) Colebrook. C. F., J. Inst. Civil Engrs. (London) 11,
133 (1938i39).
( 3 ) Blasius, H., Mit. Forschungsarbeit, VDI 131, 1 (1913).
(4) von Khrman. T.. J. Aeron. Sci. 1. 1 (1934).
(5) Drew, T. B. and'Genereaux, R. P.,.Trans AIChE 32,
17 (1936).
(6) Nikuradse, J., VDI-Forschungshelt No. 361 (1933).
(7) Swamee, P. K. and Jain,, A. K., J. Hydraulics Div.
ASCE 102, 657 (1976).
( 8 ) Nekrasov, B., 'Hydraulics', Peace Publishers ( MOSCOW),1968, (Transl. by V. Talmy), pp. 95-101.

Manuscript received April 2, 1979; accepted for publication October 23, 1979.

The Canadian lournal of Chemical Engineering, Vol. 58, February 1980

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123