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Hydraulic Laboratory
Fluid Laboratory – Osborne Reynolds’s Demonstration
Fluid Laboratory No. 2 – Osborne Reynolds’ Demonstration

1. Investigation of Laminar, Transitional and Turbulent Pipe Flows

Objective
The objectives of this experiment are to visualization of laminar, transitional and turbulent
pipe flows, and to determinate the critical Reynolds numbers of the flows.

Description
The equipment operates in a vertical orientation. A header tank containing stilling media
provides a constant head of fluid through a bellmouth entry to the flow visualization pipe.
Flow through this pipe is regulated using a control valve at the discharge end. The flow rate
of the fluid through the pipe can be measured using the volumetric tank of the hydraulics
bench. Velocity of the fluid can therefore be determined to enable calculation of Reynolds’
number. The equipement uses a similar dye injection technique to that of Reynolds’ original
apparatus to enable observation of flow conditions.

Theory
A flow can behave in very different ways depending upon which forces predominate within it.
Slow flows are dominate by viscous forces, tend to be well ordered and predictable and is
described as laminar. In laminar pipe flow, the fluid behaves as if concentric layers are
sliding over each other with a maximum velocity on the axis, zero velocity at the tube wall
and a parabolic velocity distribution. Dye injected carefully at a point in a laminar pipe flow
will be stretched out by the flow to form a clear well defined line.

The Reynolds number, Re, provides a useful way of characterizing the flow, it is defined as:

Vd
Re  (1)
v

where V is the mean velocity given in terms of the flow rate (m/s),
v is the kinematic viscosity (m2/s),
d is the diameter of the pipe (m).

It is common practice to take a Reynolds number of 2,000 as the value which divides laminar
from turbulent flow. 2,100 to 4,000 is taken as transition flow. Reynolds numbers up to 4,000
or more are Turbulent flow.

CIV 201L Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Department of Civil Engineering, Chu Hai College of Higher Education
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Hydraulic Laboratory
Fluid Laboratory – Osborne Reynolds’s Demonstration

Apparatus
1. Reynold’s apparatus.
2. Hydraulic bench.
3. Stopwatch.
4. Thermometer.

Figure 1.1 Reynold’s apparatus and hydraulic bench

Figure 1.2 Details of the Reynold’s apparatus

CIV 201L Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Department of Civil Engineering, Chu Hai College of Higher Education
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Hydraulic Laboratory
Fluid Laboratory – Osborne Reynolds’s Demonstration

Technical Data
The following dimensions from the equipment are used in the calculations. If required these
valves may be checked as part of the experimental procedure and replaced with your own
measurements.

Dimensions of test pipe d = 0.01 m

Cross-sectional area of test pipe A = 7.854 x 10-5 m2
Kinematics viscosity of water (Table 1 refer)

Procedure
1. Close the flow control valve from the outlet pipe.
2. Close the dye flow control valve, and fill the dye reservoir with ink.
3. Gradually open the bench valve to fill up the head tank with water.
4. Once the water level in the head tank reaches the overflow tube, carefully adjust the
bench control value to produce a low overflow rate of 15 ml/s.
5. Open the dye flow control valve and investigate the dye pattern inside the test section.
6. Measure the flow rate and the temperature of the water.
7. Repeat the experiment by regulating water inlet and outlet to another 20, 30, 40 and
60 ml/s.

Results
1. Record the results on the attached table.
2. Calculate the flow rate for each set of the results.
3. Calculate the Reynolds Number for each flow rate.
4. Discuss the types of the flows.

CIV 201L Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Department of Civil Engineering, Chu Hai College of Higher Education
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Hydraulic Laboratory
Fluid Laboratory – Osborne Reynolds’s Demonstration

Reference

Table 1. Kinematic viscosity of water at atmospheric pressure

CIV 201L Fluid Mechanics Laboratory

Department of Civil Engineering, Chu Hai College of Higher Education