Report and Infographic: Title: Flow Regime

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Report and Infographic

Title:
FLOW REGIME

Name: S.M SAFAYET ZIZ


Matric No: KIL190702
FLUIDS

A fluid is a substance that continually deforms under an applied shear stress, or external force. Fluids are a
phase of matter and include liquids, gases and plasmas. They have two main properties;

• Density: The density of a substance is its mass per unit volume.


• Viscosity: The viscosity of a fluid is a measure of its resistance to deformation at a given rate.
Fluids with lower viscosity flows readily and fluids with higher viscosity flows slowly.

FLOW REGIME

Flow regimes are associated with different boundary conditions. Three flow regimes are usually
identified: steady state, pseudosteady state, and transient state. In single-phase flows, flow regime
indicates the velocity distribution of the flow. There are two main types of flow; Laminar Flow and
Turbulent Flow. This type of flow occurs depending on the flow velocity, fluid viscosity and roughness of
the layer above which it flows (Bed roughness).

Experiment with dyes injected into a flowing fluid show


how they occur. In a laminar flow all molecules in the
fluid flow parallel to each other. We observe that the dye
streak forms a straight and smooth line at low velocities
when the flow is laminar (we see some blurring because
of molecular diffusion), has bursts of fluctuations in the
transitional regime, and fluctuates rapidly and randomly
when the flow becomes fully turbulent.

In a laminar flow all molecules in the fluid flow parallel


to each other. Factors responsible for laminar flow are:

• High viscosity of fluid


• Low velocity of fluid
• Less flow area

Addition to these laminar flow does not form eddies and transfer of energy and momentum occurs across
streamlines by molecular diffusion.

In a turbulent flow the fluid undergoes irregular fluctuations. This generates fluid transport that is
perpendicular to the main flow direction. Extremely turbulent masses of water with a very high velocity
form swirling regions in fluid called eddies. Properties of turbulent flow are:

• High velocity of fluid


• Low viscosity of fluid
• Swirling eddies transport mass, momentum and energy to other regions of flow more rapidly
REYNOLDS NUMBER

In order to determine whether a fluid is laminar or turbulent Reynolds Number is used. 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 and is expressed for internal flow in a circular pipe as

Re = ρVD/μ

where:

V: average velocity, m/s


D: pipe internal diameter, m

ρ: liquid density, Kg/m3


μ: absolute viscosity, Kg/m. s
R: Reynolds number is a dimensionless value

Because of, the kinematic viscosity ν = μ/ρ, the Reynolds number can also be expressed as

R=VD/ν

where:

ν: kinematic viscosity, m2/s

Flow-through pipes are classified into three main flow regimes.

• Laminar flow: R < 2000


• Transitional flow: R > 2000 and R < 4000
• Turbulent flow: R > 4000

For flow through non-circular pipes, the Reynolds number is determined based on the hydraulic diameter:
Dh= 4Ac/p

Where:

Dh: hydraulic diameter

Ac: Cross sectional area of the pipe

p: wetted perimeter
FLOW IN PIPES

In this section we consider the steady laminar flow of


an incompressible fluid with constant properties in the
fully developed region of straight circular pipe.

In a fully developed laminar flow, each fluid particle


moves at a constant axial velocity along a streamline
and no motion in the radial direction such that no
acceleration (since flow is steady and fully developed)

Velocity Profile for laminar flow:

u(r)= 2Vavg (1- r2/R2)

where,

2Vavg= u maximum

The velocity profile is parabolic in laminar flow but is much fuller in


turbulent flow, with a sharp drop near the pipe wall. Turbulent flow along
a wall can be considered to consist of four regions, characterised by the
distance from the wall.

• Viscous sublayer- Viscous effects are dominant


• Buffer layer- Turbulent effects are becoming significant but flow
is still dominated by viscous effects
• Overlap layer- Turbulent effects are much more significant but
still not dominant
• Turbulent layer- Turbulent effects dominate over viscous(diffusion) effects
FLOW DEVELOPMENT IN PIPES

When a flow enters a pipe there will be a section


called the entrance region where the shape of the
velocity profile changes in the axial direction. The
flow enters with uniform velocity and velocity
profile will vary at certain length before it becomes
fully developed due to no-slip condition. In:

• Irrotational flow region: Negligible


frictional effects and constant velocity in
radial direction.
• Velocity boundary layer: Effects of viscous shearing forces caused
by fluid viscosity are felt
• Boundary layer region: Viscous effects and velocity changes are
significant.
• Hydrodynamic entrance region: Region from pipe inlet to fully
developed velocity profile
• Hydrodynamic entry length (Lh): The length of this region

Laminar flow: Lh, laminar = 0.05D Re

Turbulent flow: Lh, turbulent = 1.359D Re1/4

Turbulent flow: Lh, turbulent = 10D (for pipes longer than 10 D)

• Hydrodynamically fully developed region- region where velocity profile is fully developed and
remains unchanged.
APPLICATIONS OF FLOW REGIME

Flow regime is of central importance in sustaining the ecological integrity


of flowing water systems. There are many applications of flow regime in
our daily life. A few daily life examples of laminar and turbulent flow are:
• Grocery cooling: Refrigerated air tends to be laminar by design.
• Drainage: Laminar flow.

• Settling tanks: Laminar flow is preferable

• Wind tunnels: While it's important to model both turbulent and


laminar flow, many vehicles start with laminar flow to make
gross corrections before turbulent modeling is performed.

• Dimples on golf ball: Turbulent flow

• Blood flow in arteries (haemodynamics)- Turbulent flow

• Lava flow, Ocean currents, Aircraft-wing tips- Turbulent flow

Now let’s look at applications of flow regime in chemical engineering industries:

• Reactor design: Involves the use of flow regime


• Nuclear reactors: Bubbly flow
• Combustion reactors: Gas-particle flow
• Oil and Gas industries: multiphase flow often implies to simultaneous flow of
oil, water and gas.

• Heat exchangers: Turbulent flow mainly

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