An efficient procedure is developed for simulating frequency-dependent friction in transient laminar liquid flow by the method of characteristics. The procedure consists of determining an approximate expression for frequency-dependent friction such that the use of this expression requires much less computer storage or computation time than the use of the exact expression. The derived expression for frequency-dependent friction approximates the exact expression very well in both time and frequency domains. Calculated results for a test system are compared with the experimental results so show that the approximate expression predicts accurately the surge pressures, pressure wave distortion as well as pressure attenuation in a liquid line.