Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Fluid Mechanics-II
Course code: ME-331
Credit hour: 3+1
Course Instructor: Prof Dr Safiullah
Lab Engineer: Taha Baig

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Lab # 01
Objective:

•To study the type of flow and investigate the

transition with reference to the Reynolds number (Re)

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Introduction:
Reynolds number:
• Re is a dimensionless number that gives a measure of the ratio of inertial
forces to viscous forces.
• They are also used to characterize different flow regimes.
There are in general three types of fluid flow in pipes
• laminar
• turbulent
• transient

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Laminar flow:
• laminar flow occurs at low Reynolds numbers, where viscous forces are dominant,
and is characterized by smooth, constant fluid motion.
• Laminar flow generally happens when dealing with small pipes and low flow
velocities.
Turbulent flow:
• Turbulent flow occurs at high Reynolds numbers and is dominated by inertial
forces, which tend to produce vortices and other flow instabilities.
• In turbulent flow vortices, make the flow unpredictable. Turbulent flow happens in
general at high flow rates and with larger pipes.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Transitional flow:
• Transitional flow is a mixture of laminar and turbulent flow, with turbulence in
the center of the pipe, and laminar flow near the edges.

Reynolds Number:
• laminar when Re < 2300
• transient when 2300 < Re < 4000
• turbulent when 4000 < Re

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Difference between laminar, transitional and turbulent

flow:

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Example of the importance of the Reynolds number:

• If an airplane wing needs testing, one can make a scaled down model of the wing
and test it in a wind tunnel using the same Reynolds number that the actual
airplane is subjected to.
• If for example the scale model has linear dimensions one quarter of full size, the
flow velocity of the model would have to be multiplied by a factor of 4 to obtain
similar flow behavior.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Hardware used:
• Reynolds Number and Transitional Flow Apparatus – H215
• Thermometer
• Measuring tank
• Stop watch

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Procedure:
• I filled the reservoir with dye.
• I positioned the apparatus on the bench and connected the inlet pipe to the bench
feet.
• I opened the bench inlet valve and slowly filled head tank to the overflow level,
then closed the inlet valve.
• I opened the bench inlet valve and slowly filled head tank to the overflow level,
then closed the inlet valve.
• Then I opened and closed the flow control valve to admit water to the flow
visualization pipe.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Procedure (Continued):
• I opened the inlet valve slightly until water traveled from the outlet pipe.
• I fractionally opened the control valve and adjusted dye control valve until slow
flow with dye indication is achieved.
• At low flow rates dye was drawn through the center of the pipe.
• I increased the flow rate that produce eddies in the dye until the dye completely
dispersed into the water.
• I visually observed the three types of flow.
• When the dye was looking like a line then I categorized it as Laminar flow. When
looking dispersed I categorized it as Turbulent flow. When looking like a line at
some instant and dispersed at sometimes I categorized it as Transitional flow.

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Observation and Calculation:

To find Reynolds number Re=VD/υ where
υ =µ/ρ
Re=VD/υ
where,
Re = Reynolds number
V = Velocity of fluid (m/s)
D = Diameter of pipe (m)
υ = Viscosity (Pa.s)

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Observation and Calculation (Continued):

• Inner diameter of glass tube, D =12mm=.012 m
• Cross - sectional area of glass tube, A = (π / 4) x D²=.00011304 m^2
• Mass density of water, ρ = 1000kg/m3
• Average Room temperature, T =25 ◦C
• Dynamic viscosity of water at room temp, µ =0.000000884 m/s
• Discharge = Q = V/t
V= Volume being filled
T= time

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Department of Mechanical Engineering Wah Engineering College

Observation and Calculation (Continued):

Volume Time Discharge Velocity Reynolds Types of
S.No
(m3) (sec) (m3/sec) (m/s) number flow

1 1*10-4 9.46 1.057*10-5 0.935 1346.9 Laminar

1.6313*10
-4
2 1*10 6.13 .0.14413 2078.8 Transient
-5

2.9585*10 Near
-4
3 1*10 3.38 0.26172 3770
-5
Turbulent

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