Optimal Estimation of the Roughness Coefficient and Friction Factor of a Pipeline

Abstract This work addresses the estimation of two interrelated parameters of the fluid flow in pipes. First, a numerical and experimental evaluation of some proposed methods to compute the friction factor in turbulent regime is presented. Special attention is given to an explicit solution obtained through the Lambert W-function. Subsequently, a method to estimate the roughness coefficient using nonlinear optimization techniques is proposed, which then allows determining the friction factor from it. Numerical tests were performed for a wide range of operating points of a pipeline. In order to validate the proposed approach, experimental analysis was carried out on a pipeline pilot-plant. The results show the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.