Friction loss is the loss of energy or “head” that occurs in pipe flow due to viscous effects generated by the surface of the pipe. Friction Loss is considered as a “major loss” and it is not to be confused with “minor loss” which includes energy lost due to obstructions. . In mechanical systems such as internal combustion engines, it refers to the power lost overcoming the friction between two moving surfaces.
This energy drop is dependent on the wall shear stress (τ) between the fluid and pipe surface. The shear stress of a flow is also dependent on whether the flow is turbulent or laminar. For turbulent flow, the pressure drop is dependent on the roughness of the surface, while in laminar flow, the roughness effects of the wall are negligible. This is due to the fact that in turbulent flow, a thin viscous layer is formed near the pipe surface which causes a loss in energy, while in laminar flow, this viscous layer is non-existent.
Read more about Friction Loss: Causes, Calculating Friction Loss,
Famous quotes containing the words friction and/or loss:
“The admission of Oriental immigrants who cannot be amalgamated with our people has been made the subject either of prohibitory clauses in our treaties and statutes or of strict administrative regulations secured by diplomatic negotiations. I sincerely hope that we may continue to minimize the evils likely to arise from such immigration without unnecessary friction and by mutual concessions between self-respecting governments.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“War is bestowed like electroshock on the depressive nation; thousands of volts jolting the system, an artificial galvanizing, one effect of which is loss of memory. War comes at the end of the twentieth century as absolute failure of imagination, scientific and political. That a war can be represented as helping a people to “feel good” about themselves, their country, is a measure of that failure.”
—Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)