Equivalent Roughness Of Copper Pipe
Roughness Value Of Copper Pipe
Copper Tube Wall Thickness Chart

Commercial pipes comes in many different materials and many different sizes. The internal roughness of a pipe is an important factor when considering the friction losses of a fluid moving through the pipe. Roughness Of Copper Pipe

Pipe Material: Absolute Roughness, e: x 10-6 feet: micron (unless noted) drawn brass: 5: 1.5: drawn copper: 5: 1.5: commercial steel: 150: 45: wrought iron: 150: 45: asphalted cast iron: 400: 120: galvanized iron: 500: 150: cast iron: 850: 260: wood stave: 600 to 3000: 0.2 to 0.9 mm: concrete: 1000 to 10,000: 0.3 to 3 mm: riveted steel: 3000 to 30,000: 0.9 to 9 mm. The absolute roughness of 0.0018″ is for aged pipe, but accepted in design practice because it is conservative. Flexible pipe is rougher than steel pipe, therefore, requires a larger diameter for the same maximum rate. For a flexible pipe, the roughness shall be given by ε = ID/250.0 unless alternative specification is given. The roughness may increase with use at a rate determined by the material.

For each pipe material either a single pipe roughness value or a range of roughness values is normally provided by the manufacturer. The roughness value, usually denoted as e, is used in the calculating the relative roughness of a pipe against the size of its diameter.

Absolute Roughness

The roughness of a pipe is normally specified in either mm or inches and common values range from 0.0015 mm for PVC pipes through to 3.0 mm for rough concrete pipes.

Relative Roughness

The relative roughness of a pipe is its roughness divided by its internal diameter or e/D, and this value is used in the calculation of the pipe friction factor, which is then used in the Darcy-Weisbach equation to calculate the friction loss in a pipe for a flowing fluid.

Pipe Materials and Common Pipe Roughness Values

Material	e (mm)	e (inches)
Concrete	0.3 - 3.0	0.012 - 0.12
Cast Iron	0.26	0.010
Galvanized Iron	0.15	0.006
Asphalted Cast Iron	0.12	0.0048
Commercial or Welded Steel	0.045	0.0018
PVC, Glass, Other Drawn Tubing	0.0015	0.00006

Pipe Materials and Pipe Diameter Database

Equivalent Roughness Of Copper Pipe

Our Pipe Flow Expert software comes with its own database of pipe materials and pipe diameters, which includes the pipe roughness values and standard material schedules of many types of pipe. Users can also add their own pipe data for any material and any pipe size if required.

Roughness Value Of Copper Pipe

Pipe materials in the Pipe Flow Expert pipe database include Cast Iron (Class A,B and C), Copper Tube (Type X,Y,K,L,M), HDPE (SDR 7.3 to SDR 26), PVC (Schedule 40, 80, and CL100 to CL315), Stainless Steel (Schedule 5s, 10s, 40s), Steel (Schedule 40,80,160) and more.

Copper Tube Wall Thickness Chart

You can download Pipe Flow Expert for a free trial and see how it makes it easy to draw, design and calculate the flows and pressure drops in your pipe system.