The amount of fluid friction, which determines the amount of energy required to maintain the desired flow, depends upon the mode of flow. The flow regime, whether laminar or turbulent, is important in the design and operation of any fluid system. These two flow regimes are laminar flow and turbulent flow. To understand why turbulent or laminar flow is desirable in the operation of a particular system, it is necessary to understand the characteristics of laminar and turbulent flow.Īll fluid flow is classified into one of two broad categories or regimes. Flow meters such as Bronkhorst low delta P are used widely nowadays.The characteristics of laminar and turbulent flow are very different. Using a turbulence filter in the flow process will filter the flow before reaching the sensor and making it laminar flow.Use the pipe length for gas flow rates > 100 l/min it is common to use a 12 mm or ½” pipe as a minimum.Use the pipe length of 4X the pipe diameter at the outlet of the instrument (flow meters only).Use the pipe length of 10X the pipe diameter at the inlet of the instrument.Limit the speed of flow by using the correct pipe length.Use of an elbow coupling close to a flow meter must be limited as much as possible.However, if this cannot be arranged differently, a turbulence filter is used between the valve and flow meter.

Do not mount the flow meter directly behind a restriction, such as a valve.

Try to prevent restrictions in the process, such as valves, adapters, and elbow couplings.

Thus, the streamlines are chaotic, not linear, and are called turbulent flow.

Then, the flow completely disrupts, and the water turns homogenous through the ink. When the speed of the water is still slow, the ink does not appear to mix with water the streamlines are parallel and are called laminar flow.Ī sudden change will occur when the speed of the water increases. The ink is injected into the middle of a glass tube through which water flows. The laminar flow can be visualized by an experiment using ink in a cylindrical tube. Difference between Laminar and Turbulent Flow The common examples of turbulent flow are blood flow in arteries, oil transport in pipelines, lava flow, atmosphere and ocean currents, the flow through pumps and turbines, the flow in boat wakes and around aircraft wingtips.

If the Reynolds number is between 20, the flow may be laminar or turbulent flow.

If the Reynolds number is more than 4000, then the flow is called turbulent flow.

If the Reynolds number is less than 2000, then the flow is called laminar flow.Where, D = Diameter of pipe V = Mean velocity of the flow in pipe v = Kinematic viscosity of fluid The type of flow is determined by a non-dimensional number called the Reynolds number for a pipe flow. It is widely accepted that the Navier-Stokes equation or simplified Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations are the basis for essentially all CFD codes. CFD is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses algorithms and numerical analysis to analyze and solve problems that involve turbulent fluid flows. The main tool available for the analysis of turbulent flow is CFD analysis. Turbulent flow tends to occur in large diameter pipes in which fluid flows with high velocity. In turbulent flow, the speed of the fluid at a point continuously changes in both magnitude and direction. Due to the movement of fluid particles in a zigzag way, the formation of eddies takes place, which is responsible for high energy loss. Turbulent flow is defined as the flow in which the fluid particles move in a zigzag way. Graph representing flow vs pressure difference for laminar and turbulent flow Turbulent Flow

Laminar flow pipe