fluids — The Complete Guide: Free Flow and Pressure-Drop Calculations in Python
fluids is a Python library by Caleb Bell with hundreds of functions for engineering fluid mechanics. It suits process, mechanical and piping engineers who want transparent calculation sheets in code instead of Excel workbooks that are hard to check.
fluids
Caleb Bell
A Python library for flow calculations — pressure drop in pipes and fittings, pumps, compressible flow, control valves and flow meters.
Get it from the vendorWhat you get
- Piping — friction factors, roughness and pressure drop in fittings.
- Pumps and motors — sizing helpers.
- Compressible and two-phase flow — for gases and mixtures.
- Valves and flow meters — control and relief valves, orifice plates and Venturi meters.
- More topics — open channels, tanks, packed beds and atmospheric properties.
How to use it
There is no graphical interface. You install the library, call its functions from a Jupyter notebook or a script, and get a calculation you can check, document and rerun for every project. The documentation on readthedocs describes each function. It is licensed under MIT, commercial work included.
Related tools
For thermodynamic properties of fluids — CoolProp. For the working environment itself — Python. For simulating a whole process with a graphical interface — DWSIM.
CoolProp
CoolProp Project
Thermophysical property data for over a hundred fluids, callable from any language.
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Python
Python Software Foundation
The language behind most modern engineering computation, and its full ecosystem.
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DWSIM
DWSIM Project
Steady-state and dynamic process simulation for chemical plants.
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ChemEnggCalc
ChemEnggCalc
A collection of online calculators for chemical engineering.
Get it from the vendorThe bottom line
fluids turns routine flow calculations into short, clear code. If you already work in Python, it is a library worth knowing.