Energy Losses in Pipe Fittings — Virtual Fluids Laboratory

Fluids Report No. 3 · minor head loss coefficient K for bends, a contraction, an enlargement and a gate valve

Apparatus & Measurement

Q = 0 mL/s mitre Δh = 0 mm target
0%
4×

Apparatus details & procedure

Pipe internal diameter 18.3 mm everywhere except the enlargement outlet / contraction inlet (24.0 mm). Manometer pairs: enlargement h₁–h₂ · contraction h₃–h₄ · long bend h₅–h₆ · short bend h₇–h₈ · elbow h₉–h₁₀ · mitre h₁₁–h₁₂. The gate valve (between h₁₀ and h₁₁) is read with the differential pressure gauge instead (1 bar = 10.2 m of water).

Part A (gate valve fully open): set the FCV to each of three flows using the mitre Δh target, record all 12 manometers, then time three 4 L collections. Part B (mitre tappings clamped, FCV fully open): close the gate valve until the gauge reads 0.3, 0.6, then 0.9 bar; record the gauge and time three 4 L collections each. Water temperature 22 °C.

Raw Data

Collection volume = 4.0 L  ·  water 22 °C (ν = 0.955 × 10⁻⁶ m²/s)
Stopwatch: 0.00 s

Guided Data Analysis — you calculate, the tool checks

Complete Part A (3 trials: manometers + 3 timed collections each) and Part B (3 gauge settings: gauge + 3 timed collections each). The analysis unlocks automatically.
0 / 24 measurements
Virtual lab for CE 323 (Environmental & Fluids Laboratory), Boise State University · Dr. Sondra Miller. Manometer levels are generated from published minor-loss physics (Δh = K·v²/2g plus the velocity-head correction at the area changes), so your worked K values land on realistic fitting coefficients.