University of Kirkuk

College of Engineering
Civil Department

‘Reynolds Experiment’
2nd stage A
Darawan Obaid Ramadan

Experiment No: 8
Group No: A1
Date of experiment:
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Date of delivery:
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

Introduction
In 1883, Osborne Reynolds demonstrated that there are two distinctly different
types of flow by injecting a very thin stream of colored fluid having the same
density of water into a large transparent tube through which water is flowing. And
from the feature of streaming this dye fluid, Reynold give a number can be
considered as a boundary between flow faces, this number is a function of, flow
velocity, fluid density, pipe diameter, and fluid viscosity
OBJECTIVE
a. To determine critical Reynold number in a pipe.
b. To visualize the laminar and turbulent flow pattern.

1|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

Theory
The type of flow occurring in a fluid in a channel is important in hydraulics and
fluid dynamics problems. For example, the nature of flow over an aircraft wing
affects the drag and hence determines the power required to propel the aircraft
afterwards. So, when fluids move through a closed channel of any cross section,
either of two distinct types of flow can be observed, according to the conditions
present. These two types of flow can commonly be seen in a flowing open stream
or river. When the velocity of flow is slow, the flow patterns are smooth. On the
other hand, when the velocity is quite high, an unstable pattern is observed, in
which eddies or small packets of fluid particles are present, moving in all
directions and at all angles to the normal line of flow of flow (Gianakopulos,
2014).
The first type of flow, where at low velocities the layers move smoothly over one
another without eddies or swirls is called Laminar flow. The second type on the
other hand, in which if the velocities are increased, small disturbances cause
eddies which mix-up the layers of the fluid producing a different kind of flow is
termed as Turbulent flow. The existence of laminar and turbulent flow was most
easily understood and visualized by the experiments of Reynolds. Osborne
Reynolds (23 August 1832 – 21 February 1912) a British physicist, was a
prominent innovator in the understanding of fluid dynamics and mechanics. He
conducted an experiment for observation and determination of these regimes of
flow. He first identified the variables controlling the flow and a rational means of
predicting the nature of flow. This was done by introducing a fine filament of
dye in to the flow of water through the glass tube. At its entrance he studied the
different types of flow. At low velocities the dye filament appeared as straight
line through the length of the tube and parallel to its axis, characterizing laminar
flow. As the velocity is increased the dye filament becomes wavy throughout
indicating transition flow. On further increasing the velocity the filament breaks
up and diffuses completely in the water in the glass tube producing an erratic
pattern which indicates the turbulent flow (Malkovich, 2011). The velocity at
which the flow changes from laminar flow to transitional flow or from transitional
to turbulent flow is known as the critical velocity.
The critical velocity averaged over the cross section is believed to be a function
primarily of the pipe diameter, fluid density and the fluid dynamic viscosity.
These variables are combined which led to the definition of a dimensionless
parameter now called, Reynolds number, expressed mathematically as:

2|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

NRe = Dvp / u (Eq. 1) (Geankoplis, 2014)

Where:-
NRe is the Reynolds number;
D is the diameter (m);
p is the fluid density (kg/m3);
u is the fluid dynamic viscosity (Pa-s);
v is the fluid's average velocity (m/s)
In Equation 1, the average velocity v is defined as the volumetric flow rate
divided by the cross-sectional area of the pipe. Here, Reynolds showed that the
behavior depends on the balance between inertia and viscous forces in the fluid.
In fact, the Reynolds number expresses the ratio of the inertial (destabilizing) or
kinetic forces to the viscous damping or stabilizing force. The inertial forces are
proportional to pv2 and the viscous forces to uv/D, and the ratio pv2/(uv/D) is
the Reynolds number shown in Equation 1.
Analyzing further the relationship between the variables considered in the
Reynolds number: as NRe increases, the inertial forces grow relatively larger
and the flow gets destabilized into full-blown turbulence. Consequently, as the
NRe decreases, the viscous forces increase relatively and the flow stabilized
into a laminar flow.
In other words, the Reynolds number can be used to identify the conditions
under which the flow changes from laminar to turbulent. By experiment it was
found that the change always occurred at a similar value of Reynolds number
irrespective of the fluid and the size of the pipe. It also determined the critical
Reynolds number at which laminar flow becomes transitional, and transitional
flow becomes turbulent. According to Gianakopulos (2014), for a straight
circular pipe with a diameter D at steady-state flow, when the value of the
Reynolds number is less than 2100 (NRe < 2100), the flow is always laminar.
When the value is over 4000 (NRe > 4000), the flow will be turbulent. In
between 2100 and 4000 – called the transition region – the flow can be viscous
or turbulent depending upon the apparatus details.
Generally, the pipe flow of fluids can be identified as laminar, transitional or
turbulent by the behavior of the fluid flow which is characterized by being smooth
or erratic. But to precisely identify its type of flow, several variables are
determined and the corresponding Reynolds number is calculated.

3|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

Devices and tools used

• Hydraulic bench.
1. Starter.
2. Control valve.
3. Volumetric tank.
4. Drain valve.
5. Channel.
6. Vertical pipe.
7. Sump tank.
8. Connector.
• Container.
• Stop watch
• Reynolds experiment device:
1. Base plate.
2. Inlet connection.
3. Control valve.
4. Transparent tank content glass balls to regulate flow level.
5. Needle.
6. Over flow section.
7. Test pipe section 10 mm in diameter
8. Aluminium container
9. Dry job

Reynolds Experiment Device

4|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

PROCEDURE
1. Connect the hydraulic bench pipe to the Reynolds device.
2. Turn on the hydraulic bench device.
3. Put ink in the device.
4. Open the valve (if the velocity is low the theoretical fluid type will be
laminar and turbulent at high velocity).
5. Close the dry job.
6. Notec that the fluid (Laminar, Turbulent).
7. Measure the time at different known of volume to calculate the discharge.

5|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

Results and calculating

𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑚3
𝑄= =
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠
𝑄 𝑚
𝑉= =
𝐴 𝑠
𝜋𝐷2 𝜋(0.012 )
𝐴= ⟹𝐴= = 0.785 × 10−4 𝑚2
4 4
𝑉𝐷
𝑅𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 =
𝜇
• For Reading No 1
1 × 10−3 −3
𝑚3
𝑄1 = = 0.021 × 10
48 𝑠
0.021 × 10−3 m
𝑉1 = = 0.268
0.785 × 10−4 s
𝑉1𝐷 0.268 × 0.01
𝑅𝑒𝑦𝑛𝑜𝑙𝑑𝑠 𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 (1) = = = 1764.32 < 2100
𝜇 1.519 × 10−6
• All results are shown in table below.
Pipe diameter 10 mm
Water temperature is
Water kinematic viscosity 1.519 × 10−6
No Measuring Measuring Flow Velocity Reynolds Fluid
volume(m^3) time(s) rate Q (m/s) Number Type
(m^3/s)
1 0.001 48 0.000021 0.268 1764.32 Laminar
2 0.001 45.5 0.000022 0.280 1843.32 Laminar
3 0.001 33.2 0.000030 0.382 2514.81 Transition
4 0.001 20.4 0.000049 0.624 4107.97 Turbulent
5 0.001 15.2 0.000066 0.841 5536.54 Turbulent

6|Page
Darawan Obaid Ramadan 2nd stage A1

Discussion
In this experiment that we didn’t made due to the device was not working
correctly, we took a known volume at different of time we noticed from the
calculation that the Reynold number is proportional with the velocity every time
the velocity is being higher the Reynold number will be higher as well and the
fluid type being turbulent at high velocity, we noticed as well that’s the Reynold
number is unit less.

7|Page