Reynolds number

The Reynolds number (Re) helps predict flow patterns in different

fluid flow situations. At low Reynolds numbers, flows tend to be
dominated by laminar (sheet-like) flow, while at high Reynolds
numbers flows tend to be turbulent. The 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). These eddy currents begin to churn the flow, using up
energy in the process, which for liquids increases the chances of
cavitation. Reynolds numbers are an important dimensionless quantity
in fluid mechanics.

The Reynolds number has wide applications, ranging from liquid

flow in a pipe to the passage of air over an aircraft wing. It is used to
predict the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, and is used in the
scaling of similar but different-sized flow situations, such as between
an aircraft model in a wind tunnel and the full size version. The
predictions of the onset of turbulence and the ability to calculate The plume from this candle flame
scaling effects can be used to help predict fluid behaviour on a larger goes from laminar to turbulent. The
scale, such as in local or global air or water movement and thereby the Reynolds number can be used to
predict where this transition will take
associated meteorological and climatological effects.
place.
The concept was introduced by George Stokes in 1851,[2] but the
Reynolds number was named by Arnold Sommerfeld in 1908[3] after
Osborne Reynolds (1842–1912), who popularized its use in
1883.[4][5]

Contents
A vortex street around a cylinder.
Definition This can occur around cylinders and
History spheres, for any fluid, cylinder size
and fluid speed, provided that it has
Flow in a pipe a Reynolds number between roughly
Laminar–turbulent transition 40 and 1000.[1]
Flow in a wide duct
Flow in an open channel
Flow around airfoils
Object in a fluid
In viscous fluids
Sphere in a fluid
Rectangular object in a fluid
Fall velocity
Packed bed
Stirred vessel
Pipe friction
Similarity of flows
Smallest scales of turbulent motion
In physiology
Complex systems
Derivation
Relationship to other dimensionless parameters
See also
References
Footnotes
Citations
Sources
Further reading
George Stokes introduced Reynolds
External links
numbers.

Definition
The Reynolds number is the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces within a fluid
which is subjected to relative internal movement due to different fluid velocities. A
region where these forces change behavior is known as a boundary layer, such as the
bounding surface in the interior of a pipe. A similar effect is created by the
introduction of a stream of high-velocity fluid into a low-velocity fluid, such as the hot
gases emitted from a flame in air. This relative movement generates fluid friction,
which is a factor in developing turbulent flow. Counteracting this effect is the
viscosity of the fluid, which tends to inhibit turbulence. The Reynolds number Osborne Reynolds
quantifies the relative importance of these two types of forces for given flow popularised the
concept.
conditions, and is a guide to when turbulent flow will occur in a particular situation.[6]

This ability to predict the onset of turbulent flow is an important design tool for
equipment such as piping systems or aircraft wings, but the Reynolds number is also used in scaling of fluid
dynamics problems, and is used to determine dynamic similitude between two different cases of fluid flow,
such as between a model aircraft, and its full-size version. Such scaling is not linear and the application of
Reynolds numbers to both situations allows scaling factors to be developed.

With respect to laminar and turbulent flow regimes:

laminar flow occurs at low Reynolds numbers, where viscous forces are dominant, and is
characterized by smooth, constant fluid motion;
turbulent flow occurs at high Reynolds numbers and is dominated by inertial forces, which tend
to produce chaotic eddies, vortices and other flow instabilities.[7]

The Reynolds number is defined as[3]

where:
 ρ is the density of the fluid (SI units: kg/m3)
u is the flow speed (m/s)
L is a characteristic linear dimension (m) (see the below sections of this article for examples)
μ is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid (Pa·s or N·s/m2 or kg/(m·s))
ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid (m2/s).
The Reynolds number can be defined for several different situations
where a fluid is in relative motion to a surface.[n 1] These definitions
generally include the fluid properties of density and viscosity, plus a
velocity and a characteristic length or characteristic dimension (L in
the above equation). This dimension is a matter of convention – for
example radius and diameter are equally valid to describe spheres or The Brezina equation
circles, but one is chosen by convention. For aircraft or ships, the
length or width can be used. For flow in a pipe, or for a sphere
moving in a fluid, the internal diameter is generally used today. Other shapes such as rectangular pipes or non-
spherical objects have an equivalent diameter defined. For fluids of variable density such as compressible
gases or fluids of variable viscosity such as non-Newtonian fluids, special rules apply. The velocity may also
be a matter of convention in some circumstances, notably stirred vessels.

In practice, matching the Reynolds number is not on its own sufficient to guarantee similitude. Fluid flow is
generally chaotic, and very small changes to shape and surface roughness of bounding surfaces can result in
very different flows. Nevertheless, Reynolds numbers are a very important guide and are widely used.

History
Osborne Reynolds famously studied the conditions in which the flow
of fluid in pipes transitioned from laminar flow to turbulent flow. In
his 1883 paper Reynolds described the transition from laminar to
turbulent flow in a classic experiment in which he examined the
behaviour of water flow under different flow velocities using a small
stream of dyed water introduced into the centre of clear water flow in
a larger pipe.

The larger pipe was glass so the behaviour of the layer of the dyed
stream could be observed, and at the end of this pipe there was a flow
control valve used to vary the water velocity inside the tube. When
the velocity was low, the dyed layer remained distinct through the
Osborne Reynolds's apparatus of
entire length of the large tube. When the velocity was increased, the
1883 demonstrating the onset of
layer broke up at a given point and diffused throughout the fluid's
turbulent flow. The apparatus is still
cross-section. The point at which this happened was the transition at the University of Manchester.
point from laminar to turbulent flow.

From these experiments came the dimensionless Reynolds number for

dynamic similarity—the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces. Reynolds also proposed what is now known
as the Reynolds averaging of turbulent flows, where quantities such as velocity are expressed as the sum of
mean and fluctuating components. Such averaging allows for 'bulk' description of turbulent flow, for example
using the Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes equations.

Flow in a pipe
For flow in a pipe or tube, the Reynolds number is generally defined
as[8]

where

DH is the hydraulic diameter of the pipe (the inside

diameter if the pipe is circular) (m),
Q is the volumetric flow rate (m3/s),
2 Diagram from Reynolds's 1883 paper
A is the pipe's cross-sectional area (A= πD 2
4 ) (m ), showing onset of turbulent flow.
u is the mean velocity of the fluid (m/s),
μ (mu) is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid (Pa·s = N·s/m2
= kg/(m·s)),
ν (nu) is the kinematic viscosity (ν = μρ ) (m2/s),
ρ (rho) is the density of the fluid (kg/m3),
W is the mass flowrate of the fluid (kg/s).
For shapes such as squares, rectangular or annular ducts where the height and width are comparable, the
characteristic dimension for internal-flow situations is taken to be the hydraulic diameter, DH, defined as

where A is the cross-sectional area, and P is the wetted perimeter. The wetted perimeter for a channel is the
total perimeter of all channel walls that are in contact with the flow.[9] This means that the length of the
channel exposed to air is not included in the wetted perimeter.

For a circular pipe, the hydraulic diameter is exactly equal to the inside pipe diameter:

For an annular duct, such as the outer channel in a tube-in-tube heat exchanger, the hydraulic diameter can be
shown algebraically to reduce to

where

Do is the outside diameter of the outer pipe,

Di is the inside diameter of the inner pipe.

For calculation involving flow in non-circular ducts, the hydraulic diameter can be substituted for the diameter
of a circular duct, with reasonable accuracy, if the aspect ratio AR of the duct cross-section remains in the
range 14 < AR < 4.[10]

Laminar–turbulent transition
In boundary layer flow over a flat plate, experiments confirm that, after a certain length of flow, a laminar
boundary layer will become unstable and turbulent. This instability occurs across different scales and with
different fluids, usually when Rex ≈ 5 × 105 ,[11] where x is the distance from the leading edge of the flat plate,
and the flow velocity is the freestream velocity of the fluid outside the boundary layer.

For flow in a pipe of diameter D, experimental observations show that for "fully developed" flow,[n 2] laminar
flow occurs when ReD < 2300 and turbulent flow occurs when ReD > 2900.[12][13] At the lower end of this
range, a continuous turbulent-flow will form, but only at a very long distance from the inlet of the pipe. The
flow in between will begin to transition from laminar to turbulent and then back to laminar at irregular
intervals, called intermittent flow. This is due to the different speeds and conditions of the fluid in different
areas of the pipe's cross-section, depending on other factors such as pipe roughness and flow uniformity.
Laminar flow tends to dominate in the fast-moving center of the pipe while slower-moving turbulent flow
dominates near the wall. As the Reynolds number increases, the continuous turbulent-flow moves closer to the
inlet and the intermittency in between increases, until the flow becomes fully turbulent at ReD > 2900.[12]
This result is generalized to non-circular channels using the hydraulic diameter, allowing a transition Reynolds
number to be calculated for other shapes of channel.[12]

These transition Reynolds numbers are also called critical Reynolds numbers, and were studied by Osborne
Reynolds around 1895.[5] The critical Reynolds number is different for every geometry.[14]

Flow in a wide duct

For a fluid moving between two plane parallel surfaces—where the width is much greater than the space
between the plates—then the characteristic dimension is equal to the distance between the plates.[15] This is
consistent with the annular duct and rectangular duct cases above taken to a limiting aspect ratio.

Flow in an open channel

For flow of liquid with a free surface, the hydraulic radius must be determined. This is the cross-sectional area
of the channel divided by the wetted perimeter. For a semi-circular channel, it is quarter the diameter (in case
of full pipe flow). For a rectangular channel, the hydraulic radius is the cross-sectional area divided by the
wetted perimeter. Some texts then use a characteristic dimension that is four times the hydraulic radius, chosen
because it gives the same value of Re for the onset of turbulence as in pipe flow,[16] while others use the
hydraulic radius as the characteristic length-scale with consequently different values of Re for transition and
turbulent flow.

Flow around airfoils

Reynolds numbers are used in airfoil design to (among other things) manage "scale effect" when
computing/comparing characteristics (a tiny wing, scaled to be huge, will perform differently).[17] Fluid
Vc
dynamicists define the chord Reynolds number R like this: R =
ν , where V is the flight speed, c is the chord
length, and ν is the kinematic viscosity of the fluid in which the airfoil operates, which is 1.460 × 10−5 m2 /s for
the atmosphere at sea level.[18] In some special studies a characteristic length other than chord may be used;
rare is the "span Reynolds number", which is not to be confused with spanwise stations on a wing, where
chord is still used.[19]

Object in a fluid
The Reynolds number for an object moving in a fluid, called the particle Reynolds number and often denoted
Rep, characterizes the nature of the surrounding flow and its fall velocity.

In viscous fluids

Where the viscosity is naturally high, such as polymer solutions and

polymer melts, flow is normally laminar. The Reynolds number is
very small and Stokes' law can be used to measure the viscosity of the
fluid. Spheres are allowed to fall through the fluid and they reach the
terminal velocity quickly, from which the viscosity can be determined.

The laminar flow of polymer solutions is exploited by animals such as

fish and dolphins, who exude viscous solutions from their skin to aid
flow over their bodies while swimming. It has been used in yacht
racing by owners who want to gain a speed advantage by pumping a
The high viscosity of honey results
polymer solution such as low molecular weight polyoxyethylene in in perfectly laminar flow when poured
water, over the wetted surface of the hull. from a bucket, while the low surface
tension allows it to remain sheet-like
It is, however, a problem for mixing of polymers, because turbulence even after reaching the fluid below.
is needed to distribute fine filler (for example) through the material. Analogous to turbulence, when the
Inventions such as the "cavity transfer mixer" have been developed to flow meets resistance it slows and
produce multiple folds into a moving melt so as to improve mixing begins oscillating back and forth,
efficiency. The device can be fitted onto extruders to aid mixing. piling upon itself.

Sphere in a fluid

For a sphere in a fluid, the characteristic length-scale is the diameter of

the sphere and the characteristic velocity is that of the sphere relative to
the fluid some distance away from the sphere, such that the motion of the
sphere does not disturb that reference parcel of fluid. The density and
viscosity are those belonging to the fluid.[20] Note that purely laminar
flow only exists up to Re = 10 under this definition.

Under the condition of low Re, the relationship between force and speed
of motion is given by Stokes' law.[21]

Rectangular object in a fluid

The equation for a rectangular object is identical to that of a sphere, with

the object being approximated as an ellipsoid and the axis of length being Creeping flow past a falling
chosen as the characteristic length scale. Such considerations are sphere: streamlines, drag force
important in natural streams, for example, where there are few perfectly Fd and force by gravity Fg .
spherical grains. For grains in which measurement of each axis is
impractical, sieve diameters are used instead as the characteristic particle
length-scale. Both approximations alter the values of the critical Reynolds number.

Fall velocity
The particle Reynolds number is important in determining the fall velocity of a particle. When the particle
Reynolds number indicates laminar flow, Stokes' law can be used to calculate its fall velocity. When the
particle Reynolds number indicates turbulent flow, a turbulent drag law must be constructed to model the
appropriate settling velocity.

Packed bed

For fluid flow through a bed, of approximately spherical particles of diameter D in contact, if the voidage is ε
and the superficial velocity is vs, the Reynolds number can be defined as[22]

or

or

The choice of equation depends on the system involved: the first is successful in correlating the data for
various types of packed and fluidized beds, the second Reynolds number suits for the liquid-phase data, while
the third was found successful in correlating the fluidized bed data, being first introduced for liquid fluidized
bed system.[22]

Laminar conditions apply up to Re = 10, fully turbulent from Re = 2000.[20]

Stirred vessel

In a cylindrical vessel stirred by a central rotating paddle, turbine or propeller, the characteristic dimension is
the diameter of the agitator D. The velocity V is ND where N is the rotational speed in rad per second. Then
the Reynolds number is:

The system is fully turbulent for values of Re above 10 000.[23]

Pipe friction
Pressure drops[24] seen for fully developed flow of fluids through pipes can be predicted using the Moody
diagram which plots the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor f against Reynolds number Re and relative roughness
ε
D . The diagram clearly shows the laminar, transition, and turbulent flow regimes as Reynolds number
increases. The nature of pipe flow is strongly dependent on whether the flow is laminar or turbulent.
Similarity of flows
In order for two flows to be similar, they must have the same
geometry and equal Reynolds and Euler numbers. When comparing
fluid behavior at corresponding points in a model and a full-scale
flow, the following holds:

The Moody diagram, which describes

the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor f
as a function of the Reynolds
where is the Reynolds number for the model, and is full- number and relative pipe roughness.
scale Reynolds number, and similarly for the Euler numbers.

The model numbers and design numbers should be in the same

proportion, hence

This allows engineers to perform experiments with reduced scale

models in water channels or wind tunnels and correlate the data to the
actual flows, saving on costs during experimentation and on lab time.
Note that true dynamic similitude may require matching other
dimensionless numbers as well, such as the Mach number used in
compressible flows, or the Froude number that governs open-channel
flows. Some flows involve more dimensionless parameters than can
be practically satisfied with the available apparatus and fluids, so one
is forced to decide which parameters are most important. For
experimental flow modeling to be useful, it requires a fair amount of
experience and judgment of the engineer.

An example where the mere Reynolds number is not sufficient for

similarity of flows (or even the flow regime – laminar or turbulent) are
Qualitative behaviors of fluid flow
bounded flows, i.e. flows that are restricted by walls or other
over a cylinder depends to a large
boundaries. A classical example of this is the Taylor–Couette flow,
extent on Reynolds number; similar
where the dimensionless ratio of radii of bounding cylinders is also
flow patterns often appear when the
important, and many technical applications where these distinctions
shape and Reynolds number is
play an important role.[25][26] Principles of these restrictions were matched, although other parameters
developed by Maurice Marie Alfred Couette and Geoffrey Ingram like surface roughness have a big
Taylor and developed further by Floris Takens and David Ruelle. effect.

Typical values of Reynolds number[27][28]

Bacterium ~ 1 × 10−4
Ciliate ~ 1 × 10−1
Smallest fish ~ 1
Blood flow in brain ~ 1 × 102
Blood flow in aorta ~ 1 × 103
Onset of turbulent flow ~ 2.3 × 103 to 5.0 × 104 for pipe flow to 106 for boundary layers
Typical pitch in Major League Baseball ~ 2 × 105
 Person swimming ~ 4 × 106
Fastest fish ~ 1 × 108
Blue whale ~ 4 × 108
A large ship (RMS Queen Elizabeth 2) ~ 5 × 109
Atmospheric tropical cyclone ~ 1 x 1012

Smallest scales of turbulent motion

In a turbulent flow, there is a range of scales of the time-varying fluid motion. The size of the largest scales of
fluid motion (sometimes called eddies) are set by the overall geometry of the flow. For instance, in an industrial
smoke stack, the largest scales of fluid motion are as big as the diameter of the stack itself. The size of the
smallest scales is set by the Reynolds number. As the Reynolds number increases, smaller and smaller scales of
the flow are visible. In a smoke stack, the smoke may appear to have many very small velocity perturbations or
eddies, in addition to large bulky eddies. In this sense, the Reynolds number is an indicator of the range of
scales in the flow. The higher the Reynolds number, the greater the range of scales. The largest eddies will
always be the same size; the smallest eddies are determined by the Reynolds number.

What is the explanation for this phenomenon? A large Reynolds number indicates that viscous forces are not
important at large scales of the flow. With a strong predominance of inertial forces over viscous forces, the
largest scales of fluid motion are undamped—there is not enough viscosity to dissipate their motions. The
kinetic energy must "cascade" from these large scales to progressively smaller scales until a level is reached for
which the scale is small enough for viscosity to become important (that is, viscous forces become of the order
of inertial ones). It is at these small scales where the dissipation of energy by viscous action finally takes place.
The Reynolds number indicates at what scale this viscous dissipation occurs.

In physiology
Poiseuille's law on blood circulation in the body is dependent on laminar flow. In turbulent flow the flow rate
is proportional to the square root of the pressure gradient, as opposed to its direct proportionality to pressure
gradient in laminar flow.

Using the definition of the Reynolds number we can see that a large diameter with rapid flow, where the
density of the blood is high, tends towards turbulence. Rapid changes in vessel diameter may lead to turbulent
flow, for instance when a narrower vessel widens to a larger one. Furthermore, a bulge of atheroma may be the
cause of turbulent flow, where audible turbulence may be detected with a stethoscope.

Complex systems
Reynolds number interpretation has been extended into the area of arbitrary complex systems. Such as
financial flows,[29] nonlinear networks, etc. In the latter case an artificial viscosity is reduced to nonlinear
mechanism of energy distribution in complex network media. Reynolds number then represents a basic control
parameter which expresses a balance between injected and dissipated energy flows for open boundary system.
It has been shown that Reynolds critical regime separates two types of phase space motion: accelerator
(attractor) and decelerator. High Reynolds number leads to a chaotic regime transition only in frame of strange
attractor model.

Derivation
The Reynolds number can be obtained when one uses the nondimensional form of the incompressible Navier–
Stokes equations for a newtonian fluid expressed in terms of the Lagrangian derivative:

Each term in the above equation has the units of a "body force" (force per unit volume) with the same
dimensions of a density times an acceleration. Each term is thus dependent on the exact measurements of a
flow. When one renders the equation nondimensional, that is when we multiply it by a factor with inverse units
of the base equation, we obtain a form that does not depend directly on the physical sizes. One possible way to
obtain a nondimensional equation is to multiply the whole equation by the factor

where

V is the mean velocity, v or v, relative to the fluid (m/s),

L is the characteristic length (m),
ρ is the fluid density (kg/m3).
If we now set

we can rewrite the Navier–Stokes equation without dimensions:

μ 1
where the term
ρLV = Re .

Finally, dropping the primes for ease of reading:

This is why mathematically all Newtonian, incompressible flows with

the same Reynolds number are comparable. Notice also that in the
above equation, the viscous terms vanish for Re → ∞ . Thus flows
with high Reynolds numbers are approximately inviscid in the free
stream.

Relationship to other dimensionless

parameters
Universal sedimentation equation —
There are many dimensionless numbers in fluid mechanics. The drag coefficient, a function of
Reynolds number measures the ratio of advection and diffusion Reynolds' number and shape factor,
effects on structures in the velocity field, and is therefore closely 2D diagram
related to Péclet numbers, which measure the ratio of these effects on
other fields carried by the flow, for example temperature and magnetic
μ
fields. Replacement of the kinematic viscosity ν =
ρ in Re by the
thermal or magnetic diffusivity results in respectively the thermal
Péclet number and the magnetic Reynolds number. These are
therefore related to Re by products with ratios of diffusivities, namely
the Prandtl number and magnetic Prandtl number.

See also
Universal sedimentation equation —
Reynolds transport theorem drag coefficient, a function of
Drag coefficient – Dimensionless parameter to quantify Reynolds' number and shape factor,
fluid resistance 3D diagram

Deposition (geology) – Geological process in which

sediments, soil and rocks are added to a landform or
landmass
Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

References

Footnotes
1. The definition of the Reynolds number is not to be confused with the Reynolds equation or
lubrication equation.
2. Full development of the flow occurs as the flow enters the pipe, the boundary layer thickens
and then stabilizes after several diameters distance into the pipe.

Citations
1. Tansley & Marshall 2001, pp. 3274–3283.
2. Stokes 1851, pp. 8–106.
3. Sommerfeld 1908, pp. 116–124.
4. Reynolds 1883, pp. 935–982.
5. Rott 1990, pp. 1–11.
6. Falkovich 2018.
7. Hall, Nancy (5 May 2015). "Boundary Layer" (https://www.grc.nasa.gov/www/k-12/airplane/bou
ndlay.html). Glenn Research Center. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
8. "Reynolds Number" (http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/reynolds-number-d_237.html).
Engineeringtoolbox.com. 2003.
9. Holman 2002.
10. Fox, McDonald & Pritchard 2004, p. 348.
11. Incropera & DeWitt 1981.
12. Schlichting & Gersten 2017, pp. 416–419.
13. Holman 2002, p. 207.
14. Potter, Wiggert & Ramadan 2012, p. 105.
15. Seshadri, K (February 1978). "Laminar flow between parallel plates with injection of a reactant
at high reynolds number". International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer. 21 (2): 251–253.
16. Streeter 1965.
17. Lissaman 1983, pp. 223–239.
18. "International Standard Atmosphere" (http://www-mdp.eng.cam.ac.uk/web/library/enginfo/aerot
hermal_dvd_only/aero/atmos/atmos.html). eng.cam.ac.uk. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
19. Ehrenstein & Eloy 2013, pp. 321-346.
20. Rhodes 1989, p. 29.
21. Dusenbery 2009, p. 49.
22. Dwivedi 1977, pp. 157-165.
23. Sinnott, Coulson & Richardson 2005, p. 73.
24. "Major Head Loss - Friction Loss" (https://www.nuclear-power.net/nuclear-engineering/fluid-dyn
amics/major-head-loss-friction-loss/). Nuclear Power. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
25. "Laminar, transitional and turbulent flow" (https://rheologic.net/en/cfd-simulation-laminar-and-tur
bulent-flow#disk_diag). rheologic.net. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
26. Manneville & Pomeau 2009, p. 2072.
27. Patel, Rodi & Scheuerer 1985, pp. 1308-1319.
28. Dusenbery 2009, p. 136.
29. Los 2006, p. 369.

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Bassem H. (2012). Mechanics of Fluids (http 8.3.0116.0124.ocr.pdf) (PDF). International
s://books.google.com/books?id=mRYNKlFc Congress of Mathematicians . 3: 116–124.
PCQC) (4th, SI units ed.). Cengage Archived from the original (http://www.mathu
Learning. ISBN 0-495-66773-0. nion.org/ICM/ICM1908.3/Main/icm1908.3.01
Reynolds, Osborne (1883). "An experimental 16.0124.ocr.pdf) (PDF) on 2016-11-15.
investigation of the circumstances which Stokes, George (1851). "On the Effect of the
determine whether the motion of water shall Internal Friction of Fluids on the Motion of
be direct or sinuous, and of the law of Pendulums". Transactions of the Cambridge
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rg/10.1098%2Frstl.1883.0029). Bibcode:1851TCaPS...9....8S (https://ui.ads
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JSTOR 109431 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/
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Rhodes, M. (1989). Introduction to Particle the Antarctic Circumpolar Current" (https://w
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Further reading
1. Batchelor, G. K. (1967). An Introduction to Fluid Dynamics. Cambridge University Press.
pp. 211–215.
2. Brezina, Jiri, 1979, Particle size and settling rate distributions of sand-sized materials: 2nd
European Symposium on Particle Characterisation (PARTEC (http://www.grano.de/PARTEC1
s.pdf)), Nürnberg, West Germany.
3. Brezina, Jiri, 1980, Sedimentological interpretation of errors in size analysis of sands; 1st
European Meeting of the International Association of Sedimentologists, Ruhr University at
Bochum, Federal Republic of Germany, March 1980.
4. Brezina, Jiri, 1980, Size distribution of sand - sedimentological interpretation; 26th International
Geological Congress, Paris, July 1980, Abstracts, vol. 2.
5. Fouz, Infaz "Fluid Mechanics," Mechanical Engineering Dept., University of Oxford, 2001, p. 96
6. Hughes, Roger "Civil Engineering Hydraulics," Civil and Environmental Dept., University of
Melbourne 1997, pp. 107–152
7. Jermy M., "Fluid Mechanics A Course Reader," Mechanical Engineering Dept., University of
Canterbury, 2005, pp. d5.10.
8. Purcell, E. M. "Life at Low Reynolds Number", American Journal of Physics vol 45, pp. 3–11
(1977)[1] (http://jilawww.colorado.edu/perkinsgroup/Purcell_life_at_low_reynolds_number.pdf)
9. Truskey, G. A., Yuan, F, Katz, D. F. (2004). Transport Phenomena in Biological Systems
Prentice Hall, pp. 7. ISBN 0-13-042204-5. ISBN 978-0-13-042204-0.
10. Zagarola, M. V. and Smits, A. J., "Experiments in High Reynolds Number Turbulent Pipe Flow."
AIAA paper #96-0654, 34th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Reno, Nevada, January 15–
18, 1996.
11. Isobel Clark, 1977, ROKE, a Computer Program for Non-Linear Least Squares Decomposition
of Mixtures of Distributions; Computer & Geosciences (Pergamon Press), vol. 3, p. 245 - 256.
12. B. C. Colby and R. P. CHRISTENSEN, 1957, Some Fundamentals of Particle Size Analysis;
St. Anthony Falls Hydraulic Laboratory, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, Report Nr.
12/December, 55 pages.
13. Arthur T. Corey, 1949, Influence of Shape on the Fall Velocity of Sand Grains; M. S. Thesis,
Colorado Agricultural and Mechanical College, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, December 102
pages.
14. Joseph R. Curray, 1961, Tracing (http://www.grano.de/CURR1960.pdf) sediment masses by
grain size modes; Proc. Internat. Association of Sedimentology, Report of the 21st Session
Norden, Internat. Geol. Congress, p. 119 - 129.
15. Burghard Walter Flemming & Karen ZIEGLER, 1995, High-resolution grain size distribution
patterns and textural trends in the back-barrier environment of Spiekeroog Island (Southern
North Sea); Senckenbergiana Maritima, vol. 26, No. 1+2, p. 1 - 24.
16. Robert Louis Folk, 1962, Of skewnesses and sands; Jour. Sediment. Petrol., vol. 8, No.
3/September, p. 105 - 111
17. FOLK, Robert Louis & William C. WARD, 1957: Brazos River bar: a study in the significance of
grain size parameters; Jour. Sediment. Petrol., vol. 27, No. 1/March, p. 3 - 26
18. George Herdan, M. L. SMITH & W. H. HARDWICK (1960): Small Particle Statistics. 2nd
revised edition, Butterworths (London, Toronto, etc.), 418 pp.
19. Douglas Inman, 1952: Measures for describing the size distribution of sediments. Jour.
Sediment. Petrology, vol. 22, No. 3/September, p. 125 - 145
20. Miroslaw Jonasz, 1991: Size, shape, composition, and structure of microparticles from light
scattering; in SYVITSKI, James P. M., 1991, Principles, Methods, and Application of Particle
Size Analysis; Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 368 pp., p. 147.
21. William C. Krumbein, 1934: Size frequency distribution of sediments; Jour. Sediment. Petrol.,
vol. 4, No. 2/August, p. 65 - 77.
22. KRUMBEIN, William Christian & Francis J. PETTIJOHN, 1938: Manual of Sedimentary
Petrography; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., New York; 549 pp.
23. John S. McNown & Pin-Nam LIN, 1952, Sediment concentration and fall velocity; Proc. of the
2nd Midwestern Conf. on Fluid Mechanics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; State
Univ. of Iowa Reprints in Engineering, Reprint No. 109/1952, p. 401 - 411.
24. McNOWN, John S. & J. MALAIKA, 1950, Effects of Particle Shape of Settling Velocity at Low
Reynolds' Numbers; American Geophysical Union Transactions, vol. 31, No. 1/February, p. 74 -
82.
25. Gerard V. Middleton 1967, Experiments on density and turbidity currents, III; Deposition;
Canadian Jour. of Earth Science, vol. 4, p. 475 - 505 (PSI definition: p. 483 - 485).
26. Osborne Reynolds,1883: An experimental investigation of the circumstances which determine
whether the motion of water shall be direct or sinuous, and of the law of resistance in parallel
channels. Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc., 174, Papers, vol. 2, p. 935 - 982
27. E. F. Schultz, R. H. WILDE & M. L. ALBERTSON, 1954, Influence of Shape on the Fall Velocity
of Sedimentary Particles; Colorado Agricultural & Mechanical College, Fort Collins, Colorado,
MRD Sediment Series, No. 5/July (CER 54EFS6), 161 pages.
28. H. J. Skidmore, 1948, Development of a stratified-suspension technique for size-frequency
analysis; Thesis, Department of Mechanics and Hydraulics, State Univ. of Iowa, p. 2 (? pages).
29. James P. M. Syvitski, 1991, Principles, Methods, and Application of Particle Size Analysis;
Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, 368 pp.

External links
The Reynolds Number (http://www.sixtysymbols.com/videos/reynolds.htm) at Sixty Symbols
Reynolds mini-biography and picture of original apparatus at Manchester University. (http://ww
w.uh.edu/engines/epi1529.htm)

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