Friction Coefficient in Plastic Pipelines

Currently, plastic pipes are beginning to be more used because of its low cost, easy installation, flexibility, durability, low weight, etc. However, this kind of pipes may have a friction coefficient sensitive to variations of flow and temperature, which can affect in the design of an analytic leak diagnosis system. The variations of friction in a plastic pipeline can be caused by the following: the flow is not in a fully developed regime. In the same way, temperature affects the viscosity of water which affects the value of the Reynolds number and then, the value of the friction coefficient. This work illustrates the sensitivity of the friction coefficient due to changes in flow and temperature with experiments performed in a plastic pipeline prototype located at the Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (CINVESTAV-Guadalajara).