Construção e validação de um sistema hidráulico para estudo de perdas de carga distribuídas e localizadas

Abstract

Considering the difficulties of practical understanding by the students of the University, the relevance to Agroecology, and the great importance of hydraulics for agriculture, especially in rural construction, agricultural mechanization, hydrology, irrigation, and drainage, among others, a pressurized system was designed, constructed, and analyzed to demonstrate the variability of continuous and localized head losses in pipes and fittings. Head loss refers to the energy loss that a fluid, in a pressurized pipeline, experiences due to various factors such as friction with a stationary layer adhered to the inner wall of the pipe or due to turbulence caused by changes in flow direction. This head loss energy dissipates in the form of heat to the surroundings, as a result of viscosity (internal friction of fluid particles) and external friction (fluid with the conduit walls) as well as flow turbulence. The variability of head loss in this hydraulic system was quantified with piezometers, and the obtained results were compared to estimated data from mathematical models commonly used in hydraulics. The obtained results indicated that the head losses measured by the piezometers were similar to those estimated by the Darcy–Weisbach equation and coefficients, with determination coefficients and agreement coefficients greater than 0.977 and 0.98%, respectively.