Poiseuille's Law Formula:
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Poiseuille's Law describes the laminar flow of an incompressible, Newtonian fluid through a long cylindrical pipe of constant cross-section. It relates the pressure difference across the pipe to the flow rate, fluid viscosity, pipe length, and pipe diameter.
The calculator uses Poiseuille's Law formula:
Where:
Explanation: The equation shows that pressure difference is directly proportional to flow rate, viscosity, and length, but inversely proportional to the fourth power of pore diameter.
Details: Calculating pressure difference across pores is crucial in membrane filtration processes, biomedical applications, microfluidics, and understanding fluid transport through porous materials.
Tips: Enter all values in SI units. Liquid flow should be in cubic meters per second, viscosity in Pascal-seconds, length and diameter in meters. All values must be positive.
Q1: What are the assumptions of Poiseuille's Law?
A: The fluid must be incompressible and Newtonian, flow must be laminar, the pipe must be straight and cylindrical with constant cross-section, and there must be no slip at the wall.
Q2: Why is the diameter raised to the fourth power?
A: The fourth power relationship comes from the integration of the velocity profile across the pipe cross-section and reflects the strong dependence of flow resistance on pipe diameter.
Q3: What is the range of validity for Poiseuille's Law?
A: The law is valid for laminar flow conditions, typically when the Reynolds number is less than 2000. For turbulent flow, different equations apply.
Q4: How does viscosity affect pressure difference?
A: Higher viscosity fluids require greater pressure differences to achieve the same flow rate through a given pore, as viscosity represents the fluid's resistance to flow.
Q5: Can this be used for non-circular pores?
A: The standard equation is for circular cross-sections. For non-circular pores, equivalent hydraulic diameters or specialized equations for specific geometries must be used.