UNIVERSITI TENAGA NASIONAL

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

CEWB121 MECHANICS OF FLUID LABORATORY

EXP. TITLE : HB 024 OSBORNE REYNOLD APPARATUS

EXP. NO :3
SECTION : 01

GROUP MEMBERS: 1. NILESH PONUSAMY (CE0101140)

2. DEVAKUMAAR PERUMAL (CE0100954)

INSTRUCTOR : MS NUR’ATIAH BINTI ZAINI

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TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE

Objective 3

Theory 3

Anticipated Results 4

Apparatus 4

Procedure 5

Data, Observations and Results 6-8

Discussions 9

Conclusions 9

Critique 10

OBJECTIVE

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 The purpose of the experiment is to identify the differences between laminar,
turbulent, and transitional fluid flow. The experiment is also to determine the Reynolds’s
numbers for each of the flow. The design of the apparatus allowed studying the characteristic
of the flow of the fluid in the pipe, the behavior of the flow and also to calculate the range for
the laminar and turbulent flow where the calculation is used to prove the Reynolds number is
dimensionless by using the Reynolds Number formula.

THEORY
Laminar and turbulent flow

Professor Osborne Reynolds (1842-1912) first realized that there was a ‘critical velocity’
at which the law relating loss of pressure energy and velocity in pipe flow changed. He first
demonstrated this with his famous ‘Color Band’ (on the die-line) experiment. This consisted
of injecting a line jet of dye into the flow of water visible through a transparent pipe. At low
velocities the dye-line was unbroken, but as the velocity of the flow through the pipe was
increased, the dye-line broke up and eddies were seen to form. From this and further
experiments, he came to the conclusion that there are two distinct types of flow:-

1. Streamline or Laminar Flow (Latin lamina = layer of thin sheet). The fluid moves in
layers without irregular fluctuation in velocity. Laminar flow occurs at low Reynolds
Numbers. (The flow of oil in bearing is Laminar).

2. Turbulent flow. This results in the fluid particles moving in irregular patterns carrying
an exchange of momentum from one portion of the fluid to another.

Reynolds investigated these two different types of motion and concluded that the parameters
which were involved in the flow characteristics were

Ρ the density of the fluid kg/m3

v the velocity of the flow of the fluid m/s
d Diameter of pipe m
μ the coefficient of viscosity of the fluid Ns/m2

He arrived at a dimensionless constant (Reynolds number)

(Re)=ρvd/μ

The value of which was concerned with the fluid motion. Fluid motion was found to be
laminar for Re numbers below 2000 and turbulent flows for Re greater than 4000.

Meanwhile, for numbers in between 2000 and 4000, it was stated to be transition.

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ANTICIPATED RESULTS

In this experiment, the flow condition for theory result should be tally with the flow
condition for experiment.

If the experiment flow shows that the condition is Laminar, the calculated Reynolds Number
for theory should be more than 2000.

If the experiment flow shows that the condition is Transition, the calculated Reynolds
Number for theory should be between 2000 and 4000.

Lastly, if the experiment flow shows that the condition is Turbulent, the calculated Reynolds
Number for theory should be more than 4000.

APPARATUS

The apparatus that we used provides laminar, translational and turbulent flow as predicted by
Osborne Reynolds. Main components of the apparatus:
 Acrylic tank with an adjustable constant head
 Glass tube ID 12mm and length 720 mm with whiteboard background
 Water is admitted at the bottom of the tank through a diffuser and stilling materials.
 Water is discharged via a bell mouth transparent tube with a flow control valve at the
end
 Dye reservoir 0.5 liter with control valve and injection needle
 Measuring cup 2.0 liter
The apparatus must be used in conjunction with Hydraulics Bench

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PROCEDURE.

1. The Hydraulics Bench to level position as Hydraulics Bench Manual.

2. The HB 024 Osborne Reynolds is placed on the table just outside the bench such that
discharge can still be made on the bench measuring tank. This is to eliminate any
disturbance on the stream line due to bench vibration. The screw at the base is
adjusted for level and water supply hose is connected from the Bench to the test
equipment.
3. The dye reservoir is put on the water tank and the needles is adjusted to center line of
the tube slightly protruding into the bell mouth
4. The dye valve is slightly opened for a small flow such that the stream lines of the dye
are sharp.
5. The water temperature is recorded as 30oC
6. By visual view, the test equipment discharged valve is slowly controlled to obtain
laminar, transition and turbulent flow and the flow rate is measured by measuring cup.
7. The calculated Re is compared and the flow condition is observed
8. The flow rate versus Re graph is plotted
9. The result is discussed.

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DATA, OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

Volume of Time Flow Rate Kinematic Velocity Condition (flow)

Re
water (ml) (s) (m3/s) viscosity (m2/s) (m/s) Exp Theor

100 08.68 1.15 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1018 1521.30 Laminar Lamin

200 14.04 1.42 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1257 1878.46 Laminar Lamin

300 22.05 1.36 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1204 1799.25 Laminar Lamin

400 29.78 1.34 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1186 1772.35 Laminar Lamin

500 37.54 1.33 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1177 1758.90 Laminar Lamin

100 07.03 1.42 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1257 1878.46 Transition Lamin

200 13.65 1.47 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1301 1944.21 Transition Lamin

300 20.09 1.49 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1319 1971.11 Transition Lamin

400 26.66 1.50 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1327 1983.06 Transition Lamin

500 32.47 1.54 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.1363 2036.86 Transition Transit

100 04.03 2.48 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.2195 3280.19 Turbulent Transit

200 05.70 3.51 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.3106 4641.59 Turbulent Turbul

300 08.96 3.35 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.2965 4430.88 Turbulent Turbul

400 12.12 3.30 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.2920 4363.64 Turbulent Turbul

500 14.68 3.41 x 10-5 8.03 x 10-7 0.3018 4510.09 Turbulent Turbul

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Graph

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Calculations
The Flow Rate is calculated by the following formula:
Flow rate, Q : Volume (m3)
Time (sec)

Volume : 100 ml ; 0.0001m3

Q = 0.0001m3
08.68 s
= 1.15 x 10-5 m3/s

The Kinematic viscosity, ν is obtained by:

Referring to appendix A, the kinematic viscosity for water at temperature 30oC is
8.03x10-7 m2/s

The Velocity is calculated by the following formula:

V = Q/A

Where A = Πd2
4
A= (22/7) (0.012)2
4
= 1.13x10-4 m2

So, V = 1.15 x 10-5 m3/s

1.13x10-4 m2
= 0.1018 m/s

The Reynolds Number is calculated by the following formula:

Re = Vd /ν

= 0.1018 (0.012)
8.03x10-7
= 1521.3

Since 1521.3 is less than 2000, so it is laminar.

*(The other calculations are done using the same steps.)

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DISCUSSION

By comparing the result that we get from the observed flow condition and the
calculated Reynolds Number, there are a bit different between the results collected. For the
laminar flow we managed to tally the condition from the first 100 ml until 500 ml of water.
When it comes to the transition part, even though we observe the flow is in transition
condition, however when we calculate the Reynolds Number the value that we get is fulfilled
the laminar condition and not transition condition. For the first 100 ml until 400 ml, the
values of Reynolds Number that we calculated are lesser than 2000 thus proved it to be in
laminar flow. For the 500 ml, again we managed to get tally the value for both experiment
and theory as we managed to get value between 2000 and 4000 (prove it to be transition
flow). As for turbulent flow, there is only slight difference between the experiment and the
theory. The first 100 ml we get the value for transition flow but for the next 200 ml until 500
ml, we managed to get the turbulent flow condition. The errors that occurred might be comes
from parallax error such as the position of eyes during taking the value of water volume and
the slow response when taking the value time. During the experiment there are several
precaution steps that need to be alert. The experiment should be done on a stable place. When
taking the water volume, one of our member just hold the measuring cup instead of put it on
the table. So this might contribute to error for this experiment. Other than that, to get
appropriate laminar smooth stream flow, the clip and the valve which control the purplish dye
must be regulate slow and carefully. The graph of Flow Rate versus Reynolds Number that
we plotted based on our result shows that as the water flow rate increase, the Reynolds
number calculated also increase.

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CONCLUSION

As a conclusion, the initial objective are met because we are able to conduct the
experiment well and the result obtained is just slightly varies with the actual one. We
managed to calculate the flow rate, velocity and Reynolds Number effectively by calculate it
using the provided formula. We are also able to plot the graph of Flow rate versus Reynolds
Number. The result varies because there are some errors occurred during conducting the
experiment as stated in the discussion part.

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CRITIQUE

We successfully conduct our experiment by referring the lab manual. The problem is
just that it is very hard to control the dye flow especially when to get a straight line for
laminar flow. Other than that, everything is fine.

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