Understanding Pressure Drop in Parallel Piping Systems

[abiehl]

I have a question about network flow pressure drop. In a piping system with several identical components in parallel, is the pressure drop across the supply and return header equal to the pressure drop across one of the components? Or is it the inverse of the sum of the inverses? To use numbers for clarity, if you have a supply pipe, A, which feeds pipes B, C, and D, which have components each with a pressure drop of 15 psi, and which feed pipe E, is the pressure difference from pipe A to pipe E 15 psi or 1/(1/15+1/15+1/15) = 5psi? A pressure drop of 15 psi makes more sense to me, but I thought that pipe networks were analogous to electrical circuits such that pressure drop is analogous to resistance.

 

[Mugambo]

Please mention the dimensions of the pipes and their orientations in relation to one another.

 

[ishutopre]

I have a question about network flow pressure drop. In a piping system with several identical components in parallel, is the pressure drop across the supply and return header equal to the pressure drop across one of the components? Or is it the inverse of the sum of the inverses? To use numbers for clarity, if you have a supply pipe, A, which feeds pipes B, C, and D, which have components each with a pressure drop of 15 psi, and which feed pipe E, is the pressure difference from pipe A to pipe E 15 psi or 1/(1/15+1/15+1/15) = 5psi? A pressure drop of 15 psi makes more sense to me, but I thought that pipe networks were analogous to electrical circuits such that pressure drop is analogous to resistance.

Hey according to me the pressure difference would be 15 psi and not as electrical circuits.Pressure between any two points is always same irrespective of how many parallel paths or any different cross sections it has got in between those two points

 

[MrMatt2532]

Yes the pressure drop would be 15 psi as you suspected. Your analogy is slightly off. Pressure drop is analogous to voltage drop and not resistance.

 

[ishutopre]

Yeah.Thanks for correcting me.