Project Title: "Determination of the friction factor
in smooth pipe coils"
Author: Rafael Ejido-Sierra
Host Supervisor: Prof. Alexander Vásquez-Calvo,
Universidade de Costa Rica, Costa Rica
The main objective of this Project is to find an experimental relation between friction coefficients in smooth coils, Reynolds’s number and the curving of the coil.
To follow these objectives firstly experiences on straight right tube were made and the friction coefficient was evaluated using the Fluids Mechanics laws.
Then, using the same process some data were taken that could be improved using more tubes and more different curving coils but the main purpose was to get an idea of the behaviors of the friction coefficient regarding curving changes.
Finally, a relation that joined the one for straight right tubes when we considered a straight right tube as a coil with an infinite curving (in fact, a circle of a diameter of 2 meters can be considerate as a straight right tube regarding Fluids Mechanics laws, so a coil with a curving of 200 could be considerate a straight right tube as all our tubes have a diameter lower than 2 cm) has been obtained.
The relation obtained is the following one:
With c the curving of the coils (c= dc(diameter of the coil)/ di(internal diameter of the tube))
And Re Reynolds’s number (Re= v*di*r/m) where v is the fluid velocity, r the volumetric mass of water, and m the dynamic viscosity of water.
