Turbulence

Turbulence
• At low flow rates the pressure drop in the fluid
increases directly with the fluid velocity.
• At high rates it increases much more rapidly,
roughly as the square of the velocity.
• Based on this, two types of flow were
classified: Laminar & turbulent.
 Turbulence
• The distinction between the two types of flow
was first demonstrated by Osborne Reynolds.
A horizontal glass tube was immersed in a
glass walled tank filled with water.
A controlled flow of water could be drawn
through the tube by opening a valve.
The entrance to the tube was flared, and
provision was made to introduce a fine
filament of colored water from the overhead
flask into the stream at the tube entrance.
 Turbulence
• At low flow rates, the jet of colored water
flowed intact along with the main stream and
no cross-mixing occurred.
• The behavior of the color band showed clearly
that the water was flowing in parallel straight
lines and that the flow was laminar.
 Turbulence
• When the flow rate was increased, a velocity
called critical velocity was reached at which
the thread of color became wavy and
gradually disappeared
• The dye spread uniformly through out the
entire cross section of the stream of water.
• Then the water moved erratically in the form
of cross currents & eddies
• This type of motion is turbulent flow
 Nature of turbulence
• Turbulence can result either from contact of
the flowing stream with solid boundaries (wall
turbulence) or from contact between two
layers of fluid moving at different velocities
(free turbulence).
• Free turbulence is especially important in
mixing
 Nature of turbulence
• Turbulent flow consists of a mass of eddies of
various sizes coexisting in the main stream.
• Large eddies are formed continually.
• They breakdown into smaller eddies, which in
turn evolve still smaller ones.
• Finally the smallest eddies disappear.
• The diameter of the smallest eddies is 10 –
100μm
 Nature of turbulence
• Smaller eddies are rapidly destroyed by
viscous shear.
• Flow with in an eddy is Laminar.
• The smallest eddies contain about 1012
molecules.
• All eddies are of macroscopic size.
• Turbulent flow is not a molecular phenomena
 Nature of turbulence
• Any given eddy possesses a definite amount of
mechanical energy.
• The energy of the largest eddies is supplied by
the potential energy of the bulk flow of the
fluid.
• Large eddies pass their energy of rotation
along a continuous series of smaller eddies.
 Nature of turbulence
• The mechanical energy is not appreciably
dissipated into heat during the break up of
large eddies into smaller ones.
• But is passed along almost quantitatively to
the smallest eddies.
• It is finally converted to heat when the
smallest eddies are obliterated by viscous
action.
• Energy conversion by viscous action is called
viscous dissipation.
Reynolds Number
 Reynolds Number
• Critical velocity depends on

Diameter of the tube

Viscosity
Density
Average linear velocity of the fluid
 Reynolds Number
• These four factors can be combined into one
group (Reynolds Number)
• The change in the kind of flow occurs at a
definite value of group
• Grouping of variables

• V- = Avg velocity of liquid

• ν = kinematic viscosity
 Reynolds Number
• Transition from laminar to turbulent flow
occur over a wide range of Reynolds numbers
• In a pipe, flow is always laminar when
NRe < 2100
• But it can persist up to NRe above 24,000 by
eliminating all disturbances at the inlet
• At NRe < 2100, all disturbances are damped
and the flow remains laminar.
 Reynolds Number
• Under ordinary conditions, the flow in a pipe
or tube is turbulent at NRe > 4000
• Transition region is found between 2100 and
4000
Boundary Layers
 Boundary Layers
• A boundary layer is defined as that part of a
moving fluid in which the fluid motion is
influenced by the presence of a solid
boundary.
• Consider the flow of fluid parallel with a thin
plate.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• The velocity of the fluid upstream from the
leading edge of the plate is uniform across the
entire fluid stream.
• The velocity of the fluid at the interface
between the solid and fluid is zero.
• The dashed line ‘OL’ is so drawn that the
velocity changes are confined between this
line and the trace of the wall.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• Line ‘OL’ represents an imaginary surface that
separates the fluid stream into two parts
One in which the fluid velocity is constant
The other in which the velocity varies from
zero at the wall to a velocity substantially
equal to that of the undisturbed fluid.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• Imaginary surface separates the fluid that is
directly effected by the plate from that in
which the local velocity is constant and equal
to the initial velocity of the approach fluid.
• The zone or layer, between the dashed line
and the plate constitutes the boundary layer.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• The fluid velocity at the solid-fluid interface is
zero.
• Velocities close to the solid surface are small.
• Flow in this part of the boundary layer very
near the surface therefore is essentially
laminar.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• Farther away from the surface the fluid
velocities, though less than the velocity of
undisturbed fluid, may be fairly large.
• Flow in this part of the boundary layer may
become turbulent.
• Between the zone of fully developed
turbulence and the region of laminar flow is a
transition, or buffer, layer of intermediate
character.
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• A turbulent boundary layer is considered to
consist of three zones
Viscous sub layer
Buffer layer
Turbulent zone
 Flow in Boundary Layers
• Near the leading edge of a flat plate immersed
in a fluid of uniform velocity, the boundary
layer is thin, and the flow in the boundary
layer is entirely laminar.
• As the layer thickens, at distances farther from
the leading edge, a point is reached where
turbulence appears.
• The onset of the turbulence is characterized
by a sudden rapid increase in the thickness of
the boundary layer.
 Transition length
• The length of the entrance region of the tube
necessary for the boundary layer to reach the
center of the tube and for fully developed
flow to be established is called the transition
length.
Boundary layer separation & Wake
formation
 Boundary layer separation & Wake
formation
• A flat plate is parallel to the direction of flow
• The boundary layers on the two sides of the
plate will grow to a maximum thickness
• For a time after the fluid leaves the plate, the
layers and velocity gradients persist.
• Soon, the gradients fade out, the boundary
layers intermingle and disappear.
• The fluid once more move with uniform
velocity.
 Boundary layer separation & Wake
formation
• A plate is at right angles to the direction of flow.
• When the fluid reaches the edge of the plate, its
momentum prevents it from making the sharp
turn around the edge.
• It separates from the plate and proceeds outward
into the bulk fluid.
• Behind the plate is a backwater zone of strongly
decelerated fluid, in which large eddies, called
vortices are formed.
• This zone is known as the wake.