UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA

Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology

Faculty of Engineering Technology

COURSE INFORMATION

COURSE TITTLE: ENGINEERING LABORATORY III (BN J 37201)

TOPIC: REYNOLD EXPERIMENTS

1. OBJECTIVES

The objective of this Reynolds Experiment is to illustrate laminar, transitional and

turbulent pipe flows and to determine the condition under which these type of flow
occurs.

2. LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this experiment, students should be able to

i. recognize and characterize the flow conditions in internal flow.
ii. determine the Reynolds number practically.

3. INTRODUCTION

The flow of real fluids can basically occur under two very different regimes namely
laminar and turbulent flow. The laminar flow is characterized by smooth streamlines
and highly ordered motion, while turbulent is characterized by velocity fluctuations
and highly disordered motion. The transition from laminar to turbulent flow does not
occur suddenly; rather, it occurs over some region in which the flow fluctuates
between laminar and turbulent flows before it becomes fully turbulent.

This laminar or turbulent flow can be characterized by using Reynolds number.

Reynolds number (Re) is a dimensionless number that gives a measure of the ratio
of inertia forces to viscous forces. It is an important dimensionless quantity in fluid
mechanics used to help predict flow patterns in different fluid flow condition. At
low Reynolds numbers, flows tend to be dominated by laminar flow, while at high
Reynolds numbers turbulence results from differences in the fluid's speed and
direction, which may sometimes intersect or even move counter to the overall
direction of the flow (eddy currents).
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

4. THEORY

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow depends on the geometry, surface
roughness, flow velocity, surface temperature, and type of fluid, among other
things. After exhaustive experiments in the 1880s, Osborne Reynolds
discovered that the flow regime depends mainly on the ratio of inertial forces to
viscous forces in the fluid. This ratio is called the Reynolds number (Re) and
for internal flow in a circular pipe it is expressed as,

Inertia Forces ρVD VD

Re   
Viscous Forces μ ν

where, V = average flow velocity (m/s),

D = pipe diameter (m),
µ = kinematic viscosity of the fluid (N.s/m2)
ν = kinematic viscosity (m2/s),

Reynolds observed that the laminar flow which is characterized by smooth

streamlines occur at low velocities or at Re < 2100. While turbulent flow which
is characterized by velocity fluctuations and highly disordered motion (called
eddies) occur at high velocities or at Re > 4000. The flow between 2100 < Re <
4000 is called transitional flow.

Effect of varying viscosity

The viscosity of water varies with the temperature as shown in Fig 4.2. The
variation is quite large over the range 10 - 40°C and this can be used to demonstrate
the effect of viscosity on the velocities at which transition occurs. The temperature
may be varied either by using the temperature control module or by using an
existing hot water supply.
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

5. APPARATUS

Details of the equipment are (see Figure 2)

a. 1806 Laminar Turbulent Apparatus with flow visualization acrylic pipe (inner
diameter 16 mm, 700 mm length)
b. Measuring Cylinder
c. Stopwatch

Figure 2 : 1806 Laminar Turbulent Apparatus

An 1806 Laminar Turbulent Flow apparatus as shown in Figure 2 consist of a precision-

bore glass pipe (test tube) held vertically in a large surrounds. The surround is open at the front
and the inside surface is light colored. Water enters a constraint head tank (reservoir) above the
test tube and passes through a diffuser and stilling bed. It then passes through a specially shaped
bell-mouth into the test tube.

A thermometer measures the temperature in the constant head reservoir. A fixed overflow pipe
in the reservoir connects to a suitable drain. At the bottom of the test pipe is a valve which controls
the flow rate through the pipe, without disturbing the flow. The base of the apparatus has
adjustable feet for levelling prior to use (included is a levelling device).
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

6. PROCEDURE

6.1 Before testing

i. Fill the dye receiver with adequate dye, and then open the dye control
valve until the dye is just above half of the dye injector tube
ii. With the dye outlet valve closed, slowly fill the acrylic tank with water
to the overflow level by opening the flow from the sink faucet.
iii. Please always let the inlet and overflow valves in the fully open
condition.
iv. Open and close flow control valve to admit water to the flow
visualization pipe.

6.2 Start the test

i. Open the inlet valve slightly until water trickles from outlet pipe.
ii. Open the control valve for a small amount, so that the low-speed flow
occurs in the pipe.
iii. Turn on the valve controlling the dye injection. The traces of the dye
in the flow visualization pipe illustrates the character of the flow.
Initially the dye should remain in steady, narrow stream, indicating
laminar flow.
v. Next, open the control valve in small increment speed, so that the flow
speed gradually increases. At a certain flow, the flow will become
transitional and finally reach a fully turbulent state.
vi. For each of flow state, capture the flow image and collect water
discharge in the graduated cylinder and record the time required to
collect it.
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

7. RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS

7.1 Experimental Data and Results

Obtain the required data and complete Table 2.

Table 1: Dynamic and Kinematic Viscosity of Water

Water Temperature : ________ ºC Pipe cross sectional area, A =

Water Viscosity : __________ = _________

Table 2: Experimental and Calculated data

Water
Flow Time Flow rate Flow rate Velocity Reynolds
collected
Condition (s) (liter/s) (m3/s) (m/s) Number
(liter)
Laminar
Transition
Turbulent
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

7.2 Sample of Calculation

 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

7.4 Observation

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

8. DISCUSSION

8.1 Attached the flow images and discuss the experimental findings.
 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

8.2 Discuss the graph and experimental results

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology
Faculty of Engineering Technology

9. CONCLUSION

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10. REFERENCES

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