Pipingmind

100% free · Excel

Pipe Pressure Drop Calculator

The calculator from our Instagram reel. Size lines and check pressure drop for steam, water and air using the industry-standard Crane method, right in Excel.

  • Up to 30 pipe segments and 10 routes
  • Crane TP-410 K-method for fittings and valves
  • Steam, water and air properties built in
  • ASME B36.10M / B36.19M pipe data

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What's inside

Built for piping engineers

Every method and data source is cited in the file, so you can see exactly how each number is calculated.

Darcy–Weisbach, done properly

Colebrook–White friction factor solved by iteration, laminar flow handled, and the 2000–4000 Re transition zone flagged.

Fittings by the Crane K-method

Elbows, tees (run and branch), valves, entrances and exits, with K = multiplier × fT of your actual pipe. Reducers and expanders use the Crane formulas.

Fluid properties included

Water and superheated steam from IAPWS-IF97, viscosity from IAPWS 2008, and air as an ideal gas with Sutherland viscosity.

Segments and routes

Build a line segment by segment, carry pressure from one to the next, and total any path through the network as a route.

Elevation and fixed losses

Static head from elevation change, plus fixed pressure drops for filters, flowmeters and control valves from their datasheets.

Warnings you can trust

Checks for velocity and allowable limits, and a warning when a gas or steam segment drops too much pressure for the method to hold.

Frame from the Pipingmind pressure drop reel: ΔP vs D graph over a steam turbine, with the Darcy–Weisbach equation

How to use it

Three steps to your first result

  1. 1

    Split your line into segments

    One segment = one pipe size and one flow rate. Start a new one after a tee where the flow changes, or after a reducer.

  2. 2

    Fill the yellow cells

    Fluid, flow, pressure, temperature, size, schedule and length, then the quantity of each fitting. Blue cells are drop-down lists.

  3. 3

    Read the results

    Pressure drop per segment, route totals and the Summary tab. Check every ⚠ warning before you use a number.

Methods and references

Crane Technical Paper No. 410 · IAPWS-IF97 and IAPWS 2008 · ASME B36.10M, B36.19M and B16.9 · Colebrook (1939), Moody (1944), Swamee & Jain (1976). Pipingmind is not affiliated with or endorsed by Crane Co., IAPWS or ASME.

For preliminary estimates

An educational tool for quick estimates of steady, single-phase flow. It does not cover two-phase flow, slurries, choked flow or transients. Always verify results against your project design basis, codes and vendor data.