It is well known that drag created by turbulent flow over a surface can be reduced by oscillating the surface in the direction transverse to the mean flow. Efforts to understand the mechanism by which this occurs often apply the solution for laminar flow in the infinite half-space over a planar, oscillating wall (Stokes’ second problem) through the viscous and buffer layer of the streamwise turbulent flow. This approach is used for flows having planar surfaces, such as channel flow, and flows over curved surfaces, such as the interior of round pipes. However, surface curvature introduces an additional effect that can be significant, especially when the viscous region is not small compared to the pipe radius. The exact solutions for flow over transversely oscillating walls in a laminar pipe and planar channel flow are compared to the solution of Stokes’ second problem to determine the effects of wall curvature and/or finite domain size. It is shown that a single non-dimensional parameter, the Womersley number, can be used to scale these effects and that both effects become small at a Womersley number of greater than about 6.51, which is the Womersley number based on the thickness of the Stokes’ layer of the classical solution.
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Hydrodynamics of finite-length pipes at intermediate Reynolds numbers
Extensive studies of the hydraulics of pipes have focused on limiting cases, such as fully-developed laminar or turbulent flow through long conduits and the accelerating flow through an orifice, for which there exist laws relating pressure drop and flow rate. We carry out experiments on smooth, circular pipes for dimensions and flow rates that interrogate intermediate conditions between the well-studied limits. Organizing this information in terms of dimensionless friction factor, Reynolds number and pipe aspect ratio yields a surface $$f_D(Re,\alpha )$$ that is shown to match the three laws associated with developed laminar, developed turbulent, and orifice flows. While each law fails outside its applicable range of $$(Re,\alpha )$$ , we present a hybrid theoretical–empirical model that includes inlet, development and transition effects, and that proves accurate to approximately 10 % over wide ranges of $Re$ and $$\alpha$$ . We also present simple formulas for the boundaries between the three hydraulic regimes, which intersect at a triple point. Measurements show that sipping through a straw is an everyday example of such intermediate conditions not accounted for by existing laws but described accurately by our model. More generally, our findings provide formulas for predicting frictional resistance for intermediate- $Re$ flows through finite-length pipes.
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- PAR ID:
- 10417140
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Volume:
- 959
- ISSN:
- 0022-1120
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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