Compressed-Air Pipe Pressure Drop

The shop-air question the compressed-air bench never answered: how much pressure a run loses. Built from the ideal gas law and Darcy-Weisbach on this catalog's own Colebrook solver, not an empirical air constant. The trap it exists to show: standard cubic feet are a MASS measure, so 100 scfm at 100 psig is only 12.8 ACTUAL cfm - sizing off scfm directly overstates velocity nearly 8x. 100 scfm through 1-in pipe over 100 ft drops 2.18 psi; flags the 10%-of-line rule of thumb.

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Formula and source

rho = P_abs x 144 / (R_air x T_R) with R_air = 53.35 ft-lbf/lb-R; Q_actual = scfm x (14.7/P_abs) x (T_R/527.67); Re = rho V D / mu; f from Colebrook-White; dP = f (L/D) rho V^2 / (2 gc) / 144.

Darcy-Weisbach with the Colebrook-White friction factor and the ideal gas law, by name; NO empirical compressed-air constant or sizing table is used.

Audience

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Posture

Rough Logic answers the math question the working professional asks on the job. The site is a calm, fast, ad-free, account-free, ever-free reference. It does not interpret code. It does not replace the licensed professional. It does not store your inputs. The Authority Having Jurisdiction governs all installations and inspections.