The Colebrook equation is a popular model for estimating friction loss coefficients in water and gas pipes. The model is implicit in the unknown flow friction factor, f. To date, the captured flow friction factor, f, can be extracted from the logarithmic form analytically only in the term of the Lambert W-function. The purpose of this study is to find an accurate and computationally efficient solution based on the shifted Lambert W-function also known as the Wright ω-function. The Wright ω-function is more suitable because it overcomes the problem with the overflow error by switching the fast growing term, y=W(ex), of the Lambert W-function to series expansions that further can be easily evaluated in computers without causing overflow run-time errors. Although the Colebrook equation transformed through the Lambert W-function is identical to the original expression in terms of accuracy, a further evaluation of the Lambert W-function can be only approximate. Very accurate explicit approximations of the Colebrook equation that contain only one or two logarithms are shown. The final result is an accurate explicit approximation of the Colebrook equation with a relative error of no more than 0.0096%. The presented approximations are in a form suitable for everyday engineering use, and are both accurate and computationally efficient.

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The eighty years old empirical Colebrook function widely used as an informal standard for hydraulic resistance relates implicitly the unknown flow friction factor , with the known Reynolds number and the known relative roughness of a pipe inner surface ;. It is based on logarithmic law in the form that captures the unknown flow friction factor in a way from which it cannot be extracted analytically. As an alternative to the explicit approximations or to the iterative procedures that require at least a few evaluations of computationally expensive logarithmic function or non-integer powers, this paper offers an accurate and computationally cheap iterative algorithm based on Padé polynomials with only one -call in total for the whole procedure (expensive -calls are substituted with Padé polynomials in each iteration with the exception of the first). The proposed modification is computationally less demanding compared with the standard approaches of engineering practice, but does not influence the accuracy or the number of iterations required to reach the final balanced solution.

The Colebrook equation is implicitly given in respect to the unknown flow friction factor λ; λ = ζ ( R e , ε * , λ ) which cannot be expressed explicitly in exact way without simplifications and use of approximate calculus. A common approach to solve it is through the Newton–Raphson iterative procedure or through the fixed-point iterative procedure. Both require in some cases, up to seven iterations. On the other hand, numerous more powerful iterative methods such as three- or two-point methods, etc. are available. The purpose is to choose optimal iterative method in order to solve the implicit Colebrook equation for flow friction accurately using the least possible number of iterations. The methods are thoroughly tested and those which require the least possible number of iterations to reach the accurate solution are identified. The most powerful three-point methods require, in the worst case, only two iterations to reach the final solution. The recommended representatives are Sharma–Guha–Gupta, Sharma–Sharma, Sharma–Arora, Džunić–Petković–Petković; Bi–Ren–Wu, Chun–Neta based on Kung–Traub, Neta, and the Jain method based on the Steffensen scheme. The recommended iterative methods can reach the final accurate solution with the least possible number of iterations. The approach is hybrid between the iterative procedure and one-step explicit approximations and can be used in engineering design for initial rough, but also for final fine calculations.

The empirical Colebrook equation from 1939 is still accepted as an informal standard way to calculate the friction factor of turbulent flows (4000 < Re < 108) through pipes with roughness between negligible relative roughness (ε/D ⟶ 0) to very rough (up to ε/D = 0.05). The Colebrook equation includes the flow friction factor λ in an implicit logarithmic form, λ being a function of the Reynolds number Re and the relative roughness of inner pipe surface ε/D: λ = f(λ, Re, ε/D). To evaluate the error introduced by the many available explicit approximations to the Colebrook equation, λ ≈ f(Re, ε/D), it is necessary to determinate the value of the friction factor λ from the Colebrook equation as accurately as possible. The most accurate way to achieve that is by using some kind of the iterative method. The most used iterative approach is the simple fixed-point method, which requires up to 10 iterations to achieve a good level of accuracy. The simple fixed-point method does not require derivatives of the Colebrook function, while the most of the other presented methods in this paper do require. The methods based on the accelerated Householder’s approach (3rd order, 2nd order: Halley’s and Schröder’s method, and 1st order: Newton–Raphson) require few iterations less, while the three-point iterative methods require only 1 to 3 iterations to achieve the same level of accuracy. The paper also discusses strategies for finding the derivatives of the Colebrook function in symbolic form, for avoiding the use of the derivatives (secant method), and for choosing an optimal starting point for the iterative procedure. The Householder approach to the Colebrook’ equations expressed through the Lambert W-function is also analyzed. Finally, it is presented one approximation to the Colebrook equation with an error of no more than 0.0617%.

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In this study, data mining using box plots and multivariate statistical analysis using factor analysis are employed for a spatio-temporal analysis of coastal water quality data from Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong. The analysis of box plots reveals pronounced spatial heterogeneity of the parameters studied. The spatial analysis clearly shows monitoring station TM2 in the Harbour Subzone to be most susceptible to eutrophication with the highest nutrient and algal biomass concentrations. The factor analysis brings to light dominant parameters to the ecological system under the coastal marine environment. The temporal analysis confirms the considerable decline in nutrient levels in recent years. In spite of this decline, the factor analysis indicates that nutrient processes play an important role even in recent years, suggesting an adequate supply of nutrients. It seems that they are being released from sources other than known point sources, possibly from nutrients accumulated in the sediments, necessitating steps to be undertaken for their control also. This study demonstrates the use of data mining techniques in the ecological system in Tolo Harbour.

Widely used in hydraulics, the Colebrook equation for flow friction relates implicitly to the input parameters; the Reynolds number, Re and the relative roughness of inner pipe surface, ε/D with the output unknown parameter; the flow friction factor, λ; λ=f(λ, Re, ε/D). In this paper, a few explicit approximations to the Colebrook equation; λ≈f(Re, ε/D), are generated using the ability of artificial intelligence to make inner patterns to connect input and output parameters in explicit way not knowing their nature or the physical law that connects them, but only knowing raw numbers, {Re, ε/D}→{λ}. The fact that the used genetic programming tool does not know the structure of the Colebrook equation which is based on computationally expensive logarithmic law, is used to obtain better structure of the approximations which is less demanding for calculation but also enough accurate. All generated approximations are with low computational cost because they contain a limited number of logarithmic forms used although for normalization of input parameters or for acceleration, but they are also sufficiently accurate. The relative error regarding the friction factor λ, in best case is up to 0.13% with only two logarithmic forms used. As the second logarithm can be accurately approximated by the Padé approximation, practically the same error is obtained also using only one logarithm.