INTRODUCTION

The experiment is conducted mainly to study the criterion of

laminar, transition and turbulent flow. In fluid mechanics, internal flow is
defined as a flow for which the fluid is confined by a surface. The flow
may be laminar or turbulent. Osborne Reynolds (23 August 1832 – 21
February 1912) was a prominent innovator in the understanding of fluid
dynamics and mechanics.

Osborne Reynolds Apparatus consists of water resource for the

system supply, fix-head water input to big and small transparent pipes,
dye input by injection unit, and water output unit to determine water flow
rate. The laminar, transition and turbulent flows can be obtained by
varying the water flow rate using the water outlet control valve. Water
flow rate and hence the flow velocity is measured by the volumetric
measuring tank. The supply tank consists of glass beads to reduce flow
disturbances. Flow patterns are visualized using dye injection through a
needle valve. The dye injection rate can be controlled and adjusted to
improve the quality of flow patterns.
AIMS / OBJECTIVES

1. To observe the characteristics of laminar, transition and turbulent

flow.
2. To prove that the Reynolds number is dimensionless by using the
formula;

ρνd
ℜ=
µ

THEORY

In fluid mechanics, Reynolds Number (R e) is a dimensionless

number that is expressed as the ratio of inertial forces (pV 2/L) to viscous
forces (µV/L2). Thus, the Reynolds number can be simplified as
followings;

Re = (pV2/L) / (µV/L2)

= pVL/µ

Where p is the density of the fluid, V is the mean fluid velocity, L is a

characteristic linear dimension, and µ is the dynamic viscosity of the
fluid.

When a fluid flows through a pipe the internal roughness (e) of the
pipe wall can create local eddy currents within the fluid adding a
resistance to flow of the fluid. Pipes with smooth walls such as glass,
copper, brass and polyethylene have only a small effect on the frictional
resistance. Pipes with less smooth walls such as concrete, cast iron and
steel will create larger eddy currents which will sometimes have a
significant effect on the frictional resistance. The velocity profile in a
pipe will show that the fluid at the centre of the stream will move more
quickly than the fluid towards the edge of the stream. Therefore friction
will occur between layers within the fluid. Fluids with a high viscosity
will flow more slowly and will generally not support eddy currents and
therefore the internal roughness of the pipe will have no effect on the
frictional resistance. This condition is known as laminar flow.

Reynolds number basically determines the transition of fluid flow

form laminar flow to turbulent flow. When the value of Reynolds number
is less than 2300, laminar flow will occur and the resistance to flow will
be independent of the pipe wall roughness ( ℮). Meanwhile, turbulent flow
occurs when the value of Reynolds number is exceeding 4000.

For large viscous force, whereby Re value is less than 2300, viscous
effects are great enough to damp any disturbance in the flow and the flow
remains laminar. The flow is called laminar because the flow takes place
in layers. Any combination of low velocity, small diameter, or high
kinematic viscosity which results in R e value of less than 2300 will
produce laminar flow. As Re increases, the viscous damping of flow
disturbances or perturbations decreases relative to the inertial effects.
Because of a lack of viscous damping, disturbances are amplified until the
entire flow breaks down into in irregular motion. There is still a definite
flow direction, but there is an irregular motion superimposed on the
average motion. Thus, for turbulent flow in a pipe, the fluid is flowing in
the downstream direction, but fluid particles have an irregular motion in
addition to the average motion. The turbulent fluctuations are inherently
unsteady and three dimensional. As a result, particles which pass though a
given point in the flow do not follow the same path in turbulent flow even
though they all are flowing generally downstream. Flows with 2000 < Re
< 4000 are called transitional. The flow can be unstable and the flow
switch back and forth between turbulent and laminar conditions.

APPARATUS

* A re-entrant bell mouthed glass experimental tube of 16 mm bore and

approximately 790 mm long mounted horizontally in a 103 mm bore
Perspex tube.

* Dye injector with needle valve control.

* Rotometer flow meter.

* Water supply from a tank with clear test section tube and “bell mouth”
entrance.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

This experiment demonstrates visually laminar (or streamline) flow and

its transition to turbulent flow at a particular velocity.

1. Firstly, the apparatus is set up and insert the red dye into the dye
reservoir with a steady flow of water.
2. The dye is allowed to flow from the nozzle at the entrance of the
channel until a colored stream is visible along the passage. The
velocity of water flow should be increased if the dye accumulates
around the nozzle.
3. Adjust the water flow until a laminar flow pattern which is a
straight thin line or streamline of dye is able to be seen along the
whole passage.
 4. Collect the volume of water that flows for 10 seconds then measure
the amount of water in the volumetric measuring tank. Repeat this
step 3 times to get the average and more accurate volume of water.
The volume flow rate is calculated from the volume and a known
time.
5. The water flow rate is increased by opening the pipe vessel and the
flow pattern of the fluid is observed. Repeat step 2-4 for transition
and turbulent flow.
6. Clean all the apparatus after the experiment is done.

RESULTS

SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
Volume Flow Rate Velocity, V Reynolds
Time (s) Type of Flow
( × 10-5 m3) ( × 10-5 m3/s) (m/s) No.

1 3 8.40 2.80 0.1393 2228.8 laminar

2 3 8.00 2.67 0.1328 2124.8 laminar

3 3 9.60 3.20 0.1592 2547.2 transition

4 3 9.40 3.13 0.1557 2491.2 transition

5 3 13.0 4.33 0.2153 3444.8 transition

6 3 12.4 4.13 0.2054 3286.4 transition

7 3 18.0 6.00 0.2984 4774.4 turbulent

8 3 17.2 5.73 0.2850 4560.0 turbulent

9 3 16.8 5.60 0.2785 4456.0 turbulent

Data Given:

Times = 3 sec

Density of water, ρ = 1000 kg/m³

Viscosity, μ = 10.00 x 10-4 Ns/m²

Diameter of tube, d = 16 x 10ˉ³ m

Length, l = 0.103 m

Area of cross passage, a = πd²/4

= π (16 x 10ˉ0³) / 4

= 2.0106 x 10ˉ4 m²

From experiment:

Laminar Flow:

Volume flow rate = volume/ time

= 8.4 x 10-5 m3 / 3s

= 2.8 x 10-5 m3/s

Velocity, v = (m / ρa) = volume flow rate / area

= 2.8 x 10-5 m3/s ÷ 2.0106x 10-4 m2

= 0.1393 m/s

Reynolds number, Re = ρvd / μ

= (1000 kgm-3 x 0.1393 m/s x 16 x 10-3 m) ÷ 10.00 x 10-4Ns/m2

 = 2228.8

* For laminar flow Re should be less than 2300.

Transition Flow:

Volume flow rate = volume/ time

= 9.6 x 10-5 m3 ÷ 3s

= 3.2 x 10-5 m3/s

Velocity, v = (m / ρa) = volume flow rate / x area

= 3.2 x 10-5 m3/s ÷ 2.0106 x 10-4m

= 0.1592 m/s

Reynolds number, Re = ρvd / μ

= (1000 kgm-3 x 0.1592 m/s x 16x 10-3m) ÷ 10.00 ˉ4 Ns/m²

= 2547.2

*For transition flow Re should be in between 2300 and 4000

Turbulent Flow:

Volume flow rate = volume/ time

= 16.8 x 10-5 m3 ÷ 10s

= 5.60 x 10-5 m3/s

Velocity, v = (m / ρa) = volume flow rate / area

= 5.60 x 10-5 m3/s ÷ 2.0106 x 10-4m2

= 0.2785 m/s

Reynolds number, Re = ρvd / μ

= (1000kgm-3x 0.2785 m/s x 0.016m) ÷ 10.00 x 10ˉ4 Ns/m²

= 4456.0

*For turbulent flow Re should be more than 4000

DISCUSSION

It is necessary to know the differences between laminar, turbulent

and transition flow before one is about to conduct this experiment. As for
laminar flow, it is defined as a highly ordered fluid motion with smooth
streamlines. Turbulent flow is much different with laminar, as it is a
highly disordered fluid motion characterized by velocity and fluctuations
and eddies, whereas transition flow is known as a flow that contains both
laminar and turbulent regions.
 Based on Reynolds apparatus experiment, laminar flow is obtained
when a single ordered line is seen after a thin filament of dye is injected
into the transparent glass tube. There is not much dispersion of dye can be
observed throughout the flowing fluid. Nevertheless, the case is not the
same with turbulent flow, as there is obvious dispersion of dye along the
glass tube, whereby the lines of dye breaks into myriad entangled threads
of dye.

Throughout the experiment, we observed that the red dye line starts
flowing in a straight ordered line through the glass tube, and as the
velocity increases after some time, the ordered streamlines is seen to
begin to disperse at about the middle of the streamlines, but still remain
the straight line at the earlier part. Next, the dispersion started to
increase, indicating the turbulent flow. These observations are concluded
as the streamlines is undergoing a change of type of flow, which is from
laminar flow, transition flow to turbulent flow.

There are a few careless mistakes that have been done during this
experiment. Most of all, the accuracy of collecting the fluid flowing out
of the tube within 3 seconds is a bit inaccurate. The one who collect the
fluid might not begin right when the person monitoring the stopwatch
started ticking on it, and he/she might also not stop collecting exactly
after the third second. Therefore, the values calculated in results section
might not be exactly 100% correct.
CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, as water flow rate is increasing, the Reynolds

number will automatically increase as well, and the red dye line change
from straight line to swirling streamlines. Likewise, it is proven that
Reynolds number is dimensionless, since no unit is representing the value
of Reynolds number. Laminar flow is obtained if the Reynolds number is
less than 2300; meanwhile the Reynolds number for turbulent flow is more
than 4000. The Reynolds number for transition flow is in between 2300
until 4000.

RECOMMENDATIONS

There are some recommendations to make sure this experiment would

attain more accurate and precise results in the future:

 Check whether the water in the tube flows in a correct way and we
should also make sure that the flow is stable before measuring the
flow rate by monitoring the time taken for collecting an amount of
water in the volumetric measuring tank.

 Before injecting the dye into the fluid, we should make sure the dye
is not too much and not too insufficient. It will be hard to stable the
fluid to get a laminar flow.

 The experiment should be repeated twice to get better result.

 The person collecting the water should synchronize well with the
time keeper.
REFERENCES

 Fluid Mechanics by Dr. Andrew Sleigh (J. Franzini/E. Finnemore),

McGraw Hill.
 F. M. White, Fluid Mechanics (Mc-Graw Hill, Inc., New York,
1994).
 J. Baggett and L. Trefethen, “Low-dimensional models of subcritical
transition to turbulence,”Phys. Fluids 9, 1043 (1997).
 www.pipeflow.co.uk

APPENDICES