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Effectofroughness:Frictionfactor
SiddharthTalapatra

Introduction
Thisdocumentprovidessomepreliminaryguidelinesfordealingwiththeeffectsofroughnessonthefriction
factorforturbulentflows.
Figure1illustratescoordinatesystemXY,velocityprofileV(Y),andkeygeometricalparametersofapipe.
Theflowisassumedtobefullydeveloped;therefore,thevelocityprofileremainsunchangedovertherange
X:0L.Theflowisalsoassumedtobeaxisymmetric.

D
Y

V(Y)
X

Figure1. Schematicofpipeflow

TheFanningfrictionfactorisdefinedbythepressuredrop:

P 2 f V
D

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Thewallshearstress,w,isaconstant;assumingallpressuredropisduetowallfriction,theshearstressis
relatedtothepressuredropthroughasimpleforcebalanceequation:

D2
w D L
4

(2)

FromEquations(1)and(2),weget

2 w

(3)

Theshearvelocity,commonlyusedtonormalizenearwallvelocities,isdefinedas

(4)

Thenearwalllengthscaleisdefinedas/V,andthewallunitnormalizedlengthsareexpressedwiththe
superscript+,suchas

YV

(5)

CombiningEquations(3)and(4),weget
2

V
f 2
V

(6)

ThenextstepistoobtainthevelocityprofileinthepipesothatrighthandsideofEquation(6)canbeevaluated.
Inaturbulentboundarylayer,differentsolutionsofthefluidflowexistindifferentregions.Theregionclosestto
thepipewallsiscalledtheviscouslayer,whiletheregionclosetothepipecenteriscalledtheouterturbulent
layer(wheretheflowsolutionisindependentofviscosity).Scalinglawsindicatethattheinbetweenregionis
governedbyaloglaw.Fortunately,experimentaldataindicatesthatasingleloglaw,calledtheuniversalloglaw
canrepresenttheentireflowregion,exceptregionsclosetothewallorthepipecenter.
Forsmoothpipes,thenearwallvelocityprofileisgivenbytheloglaw:

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V 1
lnY A1
V

HTA1
(7)

ThevonKarmanconstant,,hasavalueof0.4,whiletheconstantA1hasavalueof5.5.Equation(7)provides
theformfortheffactorforsmoothpipes.Usingexperimentaldata,thefrictionfactorisgivenas

1
2log10 (Re 4 f ) 0.8
4f

(8)

Differentstudieshaveshownslightlydifferentvalues.
Forfullyroughwalls,theprofileismodifiedtoincorporatetheimportantlengthscale,k:

V 1 Y
ln A2 roughnesscharacteristics
V k

(9)

Theassumptionisthatonlytheroughnessheightaffectsthemeanvelocitydistribution,whichisnotalways
correct.TheconstantA2dependsoncharacteristicsoftheroughnessbuthasaconstantvalueof8.48inthefully
roughregime.Awidelyusedformoftheffactor,forfullyroughflows,isgivenbyNikuradse[1]:

1
2log10 (D / 2k) 1.74
4f

(10)

Bothroughnessheightandflowdeterminewhetherasurfaceisconsideredsmooth,transitionallyrough,orfully
rough.Nikuradsedefinedthesurfaceas

hydraulicallysmoothfor0 k 5
transitionallyroughfor5 k 70

fullyroughfork 70
wherek

(11)

kV

Afullyroughsurfaceexistswhenthemechanismsresponsibleforturbulencegenerationinasmoothwallare
completelydisruptedbytheroughnesselementsthatstickoutoftheviscoussublayer.

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Foratransitionallyroughsurface,thevelocityprofileandthefrictionfactorshouldbeacombinationofsmooth
andfullyroughcorrelations.Colebrook[2]providedthefollowingcorrelationvalidfortheentirerangeof
roughnessheightsandforRe>4000:

k /D
1
2.51
2log10

4f
3.7 Re 4 f

(12)

Therearenumerouscorrelations,eachgivingslightlydifferentresults.TheonesbyChurchill[3]andChen[4]are
amongthemostwidelyused.Thesecorrelations,alongwithseveralothersaresummarizedinapaperbyRao
andKumar[1].TheChurchillcorrelationisintendedforallReandroughnessheights,andisgivenby:
1/12

8 12
1.5

f 2 A B
Re

16

1
7 0.9

k

A 2.457ln 0.27
D
Re

(13)

16

37530
B

Re

Effectsofroughsurfacedetailsonmeanflow
Iftheconditionoffullyroughsurfaceisnotmet,itisnotpossibletocomeupwithageneralizedcorrelation,
becauseA2inEquation(9)becomesafunctionoftheroughnessgeometry,tobedetermined(usuallyfrom
experimentaldata).Inthefullyroughcase,doesthemeanvelocitydistribution(andhencethefrictionfactor)
haveauniversalcorrelation?Anddoesthiscorrelationdependonlyontheroughnessheightandnotonother
surfacefeatures?Thesetwoquestionswillbeaddressedseparately.
Experimentshaveindicatedthatevenwhenk+<5,theboundarylayerprofilediffersfromthesmoothwall
profile.Equations(12)and(13)arevalidforsandroughnessorpipeswithsimilarlyroughwalls,because
Nikuradsesexperiments,whichformthebasisoftheabovecorrelations,utilizedsandgrains.Manyroughness
elements,likeregularlyplacedtransverseriblets,deviatesignificantlyfromsandgraintypes.Itisrecommended

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toreplacekbyks[inEquations(10)to(13)],theequivalentsandgrainroughness.Thisdistinctionisimportant
sinceksisahydrodynamicconceptthatneedstoberelatedtothesurfacegeometrybeforeitcanbeused.

Relatingkstoroughnesscharacteristics
AsillustratedinFigure2,roughnesscanbeclassifiedintotwotypes:KtypeandDtype.

(a)

(b)

Figure2. Illustrationsof(a)Ktyperoughnessand(b)Dtyperoughness

Ktyperoughness
Ktype roughness is more general and extends to regular and irregular 3D roughness patterns For Ktype
roughnesselements, ksisproportionaltotheroughnessgeometry[5].Typically,wallswithgrooveswiderthan
3 4 k act like Ktype surfaces. ks depends on the solidity parameter, s, which is the total projected frontal
roughness area per unit wallparallel projected area. As illustrated in Figure 3, Schlichting [6] performed
extensiveexperimentstoobtaintheequivalentsandgrainroughness.For s<0.15, ksincreaseswithincreasing
s.Athighervalues,roughnesselementsstartshelteringeachother,resultinginthereductionof ks.ForKtype
roughness,theresultsplottedinFigure3canbeusedtoobtain ks.Empiricallyderiveddragcoefficients, CD,are
used to correlate the data. Note that this treatment is valid only for welldefined roughness elements. For

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irregular surfaces, such as the hull of a ship, complex correlations for ks involving moments of the frequency
spectraoftheroughsurfacehavebeenformulated[7].

101

ks/CDk

Typesofelements,withdragcoefficients

10

Rounded3Delements

Spheres,CD=0.3

Cones,CD=0.3

Sphericalsegments,CD=0.13

Spanwisefences,CD=1.25
Spanwisecylinders,CD=1.25
Spanwisesquarebars,CD=1.25

10
0.01

0.1

Figure3. Equivalentsandroughnessvs.solidityforKtyperoughness.Fordetails,seeJimenez[5]

Dtyperoughness
Dtyperoughnessisdefinedforthespecificcasesofrectangulartransverseribs.ForDtyperoughness
elements,ksisnotastrongfunctionofk.Theboundarylayerthickness,u,isabettercorrelatingparameter,
thoughdataindicateawidescatterwithnoobvioustrends.Insuchcases,aconservativeestimatewouldbeto
specifyks~0.2u.InwallswithDtyperoughness,theflowrecirculateswithinthegrooves,minimizing
interactionwiththeflow.Sincetheflowdoesnotpenetratethegrooves,alowerwallshearstresscompared
toKtypesurfacesisobtained.

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Universalityofmeanvelocityprofile
Ktyperoughness
Theappropriatecorrelationsstillneedtobedeterminedoncetheequivalentsandgrainroughnessisobtained.
Fortransitionalroughness,correlationsarebaseduponthespecificcase.Forfullyroughcases,thepossibilityof
auniversalvelocityprofileisexamined,andhencefrictionfactorcorrelation.
Theroughwallsimilarityhypothesis(Townsend[8])statesthatwithsufficientscaleseparation,themeanflow
distributionandtheturbulentstatisticsbecomeindependentofthedetailsoftheroughsurface,outsideofa
narrowlayeradjacenttothewall(theroughnesssublayer,Y:05ks).Therefore,ifconditionsforwallsimilarity
aremet,detailsofthewall,beyondthoseneededtocalculateks,becomeirrelevant.Jimenez[5]hasshownthat
theconditionsforscaleseparationcanbesummarizedas

u / k 50

(14)

Jimenezfurthershowedthatthelargediscrepanciesinroughwalldatacouldbeattributedtothefactthat
conditionsoffullyrough(ks+>70)andscaleseparation[Equation(14)]areseldommetsimultaneouslyinthe
experiments.Whentheseconditionsarenotmet,innerlayerstructuresthatbearthesignatureoftherough
wallgeometryimpacttheentireboundarylayer,themeanvelocityprofile,andwallshearstress.Insuchcases,
oneneedstoseekoutcorrelationsspecificallyapplicabletotheircase,whilepayingattentiontotherangeof
applicabilityofsuchacorrelation.Anexampleisgivenbelow.

Example[Webb,EckertandGoldstein[9]]:Figure4illustratesasectiononatubewithtransverseribsofheight,
k,andpitch, p. Notethattheribsareontheinnersurface.Experimentswereperformed(inthefullyroughand
fully turbulent regime) with various pitches to obtain a friction correlation that included the ratio p/k. The
parameter p/khadarangeof1040(Ktype),while u/k=D/2k hadarangeof12.550.Thusaccordingto
Equation(14),sufficientscaleseparationwasnotachieved.Thisimpliesthattheresultsfromthisstudymaynot
beconsistentwithageneralizedfrictioncorrelation;however,theresultsarestillvaluablesincethegeometryis
ofinterest.Thefollowingfrictionfactorcorrelationwasobtainedfromdatafitting:

2
D
2.5ln 3.75 0.95(p / k )0.53
f
2k

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Figure4. Sketchofinnerviewofribbedtube

Dtyperoughness
Aspreviouslymentioned,asurfacewithtransverseribswherethegroovewidthtoroughnessheightratio,p/kis
lessthan3,isclassifiedashavingDtyperoughness.ADtypecorrugatedpipeproduceslowerpressuredrop
thanpipeswithKtyperoughness.Thenearindependenceofthefrictionfactorandtheroughnessheight
indicatesthattheglobalpressuredropforDtyperoughnessisinfluencedprimarilybythefrictionaldrag,while
pressuredragcausedbythegroovewalls,whichisdominantinKtypegrooves,isnotassignificant.
AsReincreases,thewallunitbecomessmallerforagivenroughnessheight.ForKtyperoughness,theffactor
becomesindependentofRewhenthefullyroughflowcriteriaismet.ForDtyperoughness,theRe
dependencepersistsformuchhigherRe.Experimentswereperformedina50mmtubewith1mmhigh
transversesquareribs,withbothKandDtypeconfigurations(Choi[7]).ResultsshowedthatforKtype
roughness,theffactorbecameindependentofReforRe>15000,whiletheDtypepipeffactorfollowed
smoothwalllaw[Equation(7)]for10000<Re<40000.
InanotherstudybySteletal.[10],numericalsimulationswereperformedtounderstandpipeflowwithDtype
rectangularribswithdifferentgroovewidths.Resultswerecomparedtoexperiments,andgoodagreementwas
obtained.Basedonthisdataset,acorrelationfortheffactorwasdeveloped:

p /D
1
2.3
2.05log10

4f
63.2 Re 4 f

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Thiscorrelationisvalidfor5000Re100000,0.0075p/D0.045,andp/k2.

Conclusions
Manyffactorcorrelationsexist:e.g.theColebrookcorrelationforturbulentflows,theChurchillcorrelationfor
allvaluesofReandks+.Thesecorrelationsarenotgeneral;theyarebasedonlimiteddata,usuallyobtainedfrom
industrialpipesmadefromdifferentmaterialsandwithrandomroughnesselements.Asaresult,whenthese
correlationsarecomparedtodataobtainedforaspecifickindofroughness,resultsseldommatch.
Thefollowingguidelinescanbeusedtobetterunderstandtheeffectsofroughnessandthevalidityofexisting
correlations.

Determinetheroughnesstype:ThesurfacehasDtyperoughnessifitconsistsoftransversegroveswith
adjacentroughnesspeaksseparatedbyadistancelessthan3kOtherwise,theroughnessisKtype.
(RefertoFigure2)

ForKtyperoughness
1. Determinetheequivalentsandroughness,ks:Forroughsurfaceswithregulargeometry,useFigure3to
obtainvaluesofksbasedontheroughsurfacegeometricalparameters.Forirregularsurfaces,use
correlationsbasedonmomentsofthefrequencyspectraoftheroughness(e.g.,Choi[7])toobtainthe
characteristicroughnessheight.
2. EstimateV:Sincethewallshearstressisnotknownapriori,itmustbeestimatedtoprovidethenear
walllengthscale.UsetheChurchillcorrelationtodeterminef,thenuseEquation(6)todetermineV.
3. Determinethetypeofflow:Computeks+andu/k.ThenuseTableIfortheappropriateapproachto
obtaintheffactor.
4. Checknearthewallunit:IfVcomputedfromfrictionfactordiffersfromtheestimatedvalue,usethe
newVtodeterminethewallunit.Iteratetillconvergence.

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TableI.Recommendationsforffactor,Ktyperoughnessonly

Roughsurfaceclassification Approach
Smooth,ks+5

UseChurchillscorrelationwithk=0.Alternatively,useEquation(8).

Transitionallyrough,
5<ks+70

UseEquation(9),withksinsteadofk,andA2determinedexperimentally.Asan
approximation,useChurchillscorrelation(errorstobeexpected).

Fullyrough,
ks+>70

u/k>50

UseChurchillscorrelation.Alternatively,useEquation(10).

u/k50

Effectofgeometricalparametersneedtobeincluded.Specificresearchis
needed,e.g.,Equation(15)canbeusedfortubeswithinternalribs.Asan
approximation,useChurchillscorrelation(errorstobeexpected).

ForDtyperoughness
Wellestablishedcorrelationsdonotexist.Theroughnessscaleisindependentofk,whilethegroovewidth
becomesanimportantparameter(Steletal.[10]).ThecorrelationgivenbyEquation(16)isrecommended,but
itsvalidityoutsidetherangeofparametersforwhichtherelationwasdevelopedisnotknown.

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Nomenclature
A,ParameterdefinedinEquation(13)
A1,Parameter
A2,Parameter
B,ParameterdefinedinEquation(13)
CD,Dragcoefficient
D,Tubediameter,m
f,Frictionfactor
k,Roughnessheight,m
ks,Equivalentsandroughnessheight,m
L,Pipelength,m
p,Pitchofintuberibs,m
r,Radialcoordinate,m
Re,Reynoldsnumber
V,Velocitydistribution,m/s
u ,Areaaveragedvelocity,m/s

V,Shearvelocity,m/s
X,Coordinate,m
Y,Coordinate,m

P,Pressuredrop,Pa
u,Boundarylayerthickness,m
,VonKarmanconstant
s,Solidityparameter
Kinematicviscosity,m2/s
,Density,kg/m3
w,Shearstressatwall,Pa

Superscript
+,Wallunitnormalized

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