Fluid Mechanics by the Numbers: Hydrostatics, Continuity, Bernoulli, Reynolds Number, Pipe Friction, Minor Losses, System Curves & Pump Operating Points

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Turn densities into specific weights, calculate the pressure at six depths in a water tank, convert gauge kPa into absolute bar and express a pressure reading as metres of oil head.
• Calculate the cross-section of six pipes, the velocity of the same flow in each, the speed-up behind a reducer and the mass flow through it.
• Calculate velocity heads, the total head at the pump outlet, the pressure at a raised point after a reducer and the flow through a venturi meter from its pressure difference.
• Fetch viscosities and densities from a fictional property table, calculate the Reynolds number of eight flow cases, label each regime with IFS and find the highest velocity that keeps an oil line laminar.
• Look up roughness values, calculate the relative roughness of six turbulent lines, their friction factor with the explicit Swamee–Jain formula and the Darcy–Weisbach head loss, and the laminar friction factor of an oil line.
• Add up the K-values of all fittings in a line, turn them into a head loss and an equivalent pipe length, and balance the flow between two parallel branches with a fixed number of correction steps.
• Tabulate the system curve and a fictional pump curve over a grid of flows, locate their crossing in the grid, calculate the exact operating point by formula and chart both curves.
• Calculate the hydraulic power at two operating points, read the pump efficiency from a fictional curve table, turn it into a yearly energy cost and chart energy against pipe cost to see which diameter is cheaper overall.