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Laminar and Turbulent Flow in Water
Laminar and Turbulent Flow in Water
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All content following this page was uploaded by Hector G. Riveros on 01 June 2014.
E-mail: riveros@fisica.unam.mx
Abstract
There are many ways to visualize flow, either for laminar or turbulent flows.
A very convincing way to show laminar and turbulent flows is by the
perturbations on the surface of a beam of water coming out of a cylindrical
tube. Photographs, taken with a flash, show the nature of the flow of water in
pipes. They clearly show the difference between turbulent and laminar flow,
and let, in an accessible way, data be taken to analyse the conditions under
which both flows are present. We found research articles about turbulence
measurements, using sophisticated equipment, but they do not use the
perturbation of the free surface of the flowing liquid to show or measure the
turbulence.
Acknowledgment
We thank the reviewer who improved our article
with many useful suggestions.
b References
[1] Clayton B R and Massey B S 1967 J. Sci. Instrum.
Figure 4. (a) A water beam passing through the straight 44 2–11
section of a T-junction. (b) A water beam at the same [2] Sears F W, Zemansky M W and Young H D 1985
rate of flow, after being deflected 90◦ in the T-junction. College Physics (Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley) p 275
[3] www.engineeringtoolbox.com/
Driving the water with a piston pump, darcy-weisbach-equation-d 646.html
the pressure changes between maximum and [4] Castro P M, Delfino A, Vieira E and Faria V A
minimum values, both of which diminish as the 2000 Pin-hole water flow from cylindrical
water travels through the hose. Figure 5 shows bottles Phys. Educ. 35 110–9
the change in the water path at the outlet of the
hose. Note that the maximum pressure produces H G Riveros has been a researcher at the
Instituto de Fı́sica de la Universidad
a high velocity jet at the exit, which produces Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
the parabola joining the maxima in the jet. The since 1963. He has written several books
minimum follows a parabola below. The water and designed many experiments and
demonstrations. He writes the column
beam is held together by cohesion and by the ‘Los Placeres del Pensamiento’ in the
surface tension force. Bulletin of the Mexican Physical Society.
Conclusions
D Riveros-Rosas is a physicist from the
Photographs provide a very graphical way to show Universidad Nacional Autónoma de
the turbulence in a fluid flowing in a beam in México (UNAM) and obtained his PhD
the open air. The deformation at a point in the in 2008 in the energy area. He has written
several books in physics education and is
surface of the beam shows the chaotic behaviour a researcher at the Geophysics Institute at
of an internal portion of the fluid. Also shown the UNAM.