Excel Programmable Formulas for Incompressible Gas Flow and Liquid Flow Line Sizing

Gases are compressible. Essentially it means that gas density changes as gas flows through the pipe and
the gas pressure drops mainly due to friction losses. Gas density being a function of the gas pressure
considering isothermal gas flow. The property that dominates friction losses in pipe flow is the fluid
viscosity. Since gas viscosities are low, the pressure drop in single-phase gas lines are generally very low
for short pipe lengths. This allows for all practical purposes the gas flow to be considered as
incompressible for plant piping. Hence, the formulas applicable for liquid flow can be applied for gas
flow in plant piping for all practical purposes. The formulas referred below are mentioned for liquid flow
but can be applied for gas flow occurring in process plant piping . It is important to note that gas flow in
long distance pipelines (length in kilometres) requires the density change to be accounted for in pressure
drop calculations, and such gas flow needs to be treated as compressible flow. A different set of formulas
are applied for compressible gas flow in pipelines and the formulas provided below are not applicable.

Nomenclature in formulas:

W = Liquid Flow Rate, kg/h

ρ = Liquid Density, kg/m3
µ = Liquid Viscosity, cP
ε = Absolute Pipe Roughness, mm
d = Inside Pipe Diameter, mm (Refer Note below)
Re = Reynolds number, dimensionless
f = Darcy friction factor, dimensionless
δP = Pressure Drop, kPa / 100m
v = Liquid velocity, m/s

Note: As per global industry practices, pipes are specified as nominal pipe size (NPS) identifying the
outer diameter in inches and a pipe schedule which indicates the wall thickness. The pipe inside diameter
needs to be calculated by subtracting 2-times the wall thickness from the outer diameter of the pipe. For a
given NPS, but with different pipe schedules, the pipe inside diameter will change according to the pipe
schedule. Refer the link below:

http://www.dacapo.com/uploads/documents/35-document.pdf

a) Formula for Initial Estimate of Pipe Diameter

Use next largest diameter, in mm, for initial calculations

b) Formula for Reynolds Number

c) Formula for Friction factor

d) Formula for pressure drop

e) Formula for velocity