ABSOLUTE ROUGHNESS OF PIPE MATERIAL

1. SUMMARY
Absolute roughness is a measure of the surface roughness of a
material which a fluid may flow over. Absolute roughness is
important when calculating pressure drop particularly in the
turbulent flow regime. This article provides some typical absolute
roughness values for common conduit materials.

2. DEFINITIONS

Absolute
roughness

3. INTRODUCTION
The roughness of pipes, ducts and channels impacts on the flow
rates and pressure losses for fluids passing through them. This
roughness is generally expressed in units of length as the absolute
roughness of the conduit material. For use in calculating the
friction factor the absolute roughness is divided by the pipe
diameter resulting in the relative roughness.

4. ABSOLUTE ROUGHNESS FOR COMMON

MATERIALS
This table contains typical values of absolute roughness for
common construction materials.

Material
Drawn Tubing, Glass, Plastic
Drawn Brass, Copper, Stainless Steel
(New)
Flexible Rubber Tubing - Smooth
Flexible Rubber Tubing - Wire
Reinforced

Roughness
(mm)
0.0015-0.01
>0.0015-0.01
0.006-0.07
0.3-4

Stainless Steel

0.03

Wrought Iron (New)

0.045

Carbon Steel (New)

0.02-0.05

Carbon Steel (Slightly Corroded)

0.05-0.15

Carbon Steel (Moderately Corroded)

Carbon Steel (Badly Corroded)

0.15-1
1-3

Carbon Steel (Cement-lined)

1.5

Asphalted Cast Iron

0.1-1

Cast Iron (new)

0.25

Cast Iron (old, sandblasted)

Sheet Metal Ducts (with smooth joints)

1
0.02-0.1

Galvanized Iron

0.025-0.15

Wood Stave

0.18-0.91

Wood Stave, used

Smooth Cement
Concrete Very Smooth
Concrete Fine (Floated, Brushed)
Concrete Rough, Form Marks
Riveted Steel
Water Mains with Tuberculations
Brickwork, Mature Foul Sewers

0.25-1
0.5
0.025-0.2
0.2-0.8
0.8-3
0.91-9.1
1.2
3