Water Volumes

Pipeline Engineering
Henry Liu (2003). Lewis Publishers, 2000 N.W. Corporate Blvd., Boca Raton, FL 33431, 448 pp., $169.95, hardcover, ISBN 1-58716-1400.

I enjoyed reviewing this book. It was developed for pipeline companies, as well as mechanical, civil, mining, nuclear, and agricultural engineers. It also can be used for senior and graduate-level courses at colleges and universities. Readers are assumed to have a working knowledge of fluid mechanics.

The first part of the book does an excellent job of discussing pipe flow. The author presents information in a thorough but concise manner. Individual chapters are devoted to single-phase incompressible flow of Newtonian fluid, single-phase compressible flow in pipe, non-Newtonian fluids, slurry pipelines, pneumotransport, and capsule pipelines. Example problems are provided within the chapters, and work problems and references are provided at the end of each chapter.

The second half of the book covers engineering considerations for pipelines. The author discusses pipe materials and piping appurtenances, pumps and turbines, instrumentation monitoring and sensing equipment, pipeline protection, planning and construction of pipelines, structural design, and pipeline operation. As in the first part of the book, the topics are covered thoroughly and concisely.

The book also has three appendices. Appendix A contains the notations of the book and is very helpful. Appendix B contains conversions between SI (International System of Units) and English units. Appendix C contains physical properties of common fluids and solids. The book has an index.

This book aims to provide a comprehensive resource that covers all aspects of pipeline engineering in one volume. I believe the author accomplished this goal, and I would recommend it as a reference to any engineer involved in pipeline design.

Timothy R. Banyai is supervising engineer at Brown and Caldwell (Walnut Creek, Calif.).

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