Pipe flow, laminar

Chapters 13 and 14 deal primarily with small deviations from plug flow. There are two models for this the dispersion model and the tanks-in-series model. Use the one that is comfortable for you. They are roughly equivalent. These models apply to turbulent flow in pipes, laminar flow in very long tubes, flow in packed beds, shaft kilns, long channels, screw conveyers, etc. 

V/D Shear rate of a Newtonian fluid at the wall of a pipe (laminar flow), sec.-1... 

Drill Pipe. Laminar Flow. Under normal oil well drilling conditions the flow of drilling fluid in the drill pipe and nozzles is turbulent. 

Figure 3.3 Starting location of each litre of water, 12 mm diameter pipe, laminar flow.

The concept of the specific resistance used in equation 4 is based on the assumptions that flow is one-dimensional, growth of cake is unrestricted, only soHd and Hquid phases are present, the feed is sufficiently dilute such that the soHds are freely suspended, the filtrate is free of soHds, pressure losses in feed and filtrate piping are negligible, and flow is laminar. Laminar flow is a vaHd assumption in most cake formation operations of practical interest. 

A low Reynolds number indicates laminar flow and a paraboHc velocity profile of the type shown in Figure la. In this case, the velocity of flow in the center of the conduit is much greater than that near the wall. If the operating Reynolds number is increased, a transition point is reached (somewhere over Re = 2000) where the flow becomes turbulent and the velocity profile more evenly distributed over the interior of the conduit as shown in Figure lb. This tendency to a uniform fluid velocity profile continues as the pipe Reynolds number is increased further into the turbulent region. 

Enough space must be available to properly service the flow meter and to install any straight lengths of upstream and downstream pipe recommended by the manufacturer for use with the meter. Close-coupled fittings such as elbows or reducers tend to distort the velocity profile and can cause errors in a manner similar to those introduced by laminar flow. The amount of straight pipe required depends on the flow meter type. For the typical case of an orifice plate, piping requirements are normally Hsted in terms of the P or orifice/pipe bore ratio as shown in Table 1 (1) (see Piping systems). 

In configurations more complex than pipes, eg, flow around bodies or through nozzles, additional shearing stresses and velocity gradients must be accounted for. More general equations for some simple fluids in laminar flow are described in Reference 1. 

The phenomena are quite complex even for pipe flow. Efforts to predict the onset of instabiHty have been made using linear stabiHty theory. The analysis predicts that laminar flow in pipes is stable at all values of the Reynolds number. In practice, the laminar—turbulent transition is found to occur at a Reynolds number of about 2000, although by careful design of the pipe inlet it can be postponed to as high as 40,000. It appears that linear stabiHty analysis is not appHcable in this situation. 

For laminar flow (Re < 2000), generally found only in circuits handling heavy oils or other viscous fluids, / = 16/Re. For turbulent flow, the friction factor is dependent on the relative roughness of the pipe and on the Reynolds number. An approximation of the Fanning friction factor for turbulent flow in smooth pipes, reasonably good up to Re = 150,000, is given by / = (0.079)/(4i e ). 

Here, h is the enthalpy per unit mass, h = u + p/. The shaft work per unit of mass flowing through the control volume is 6W5 = W, /m. Similarly, is the heat input rate per unit of mass. The fac tor Ot is the ratio of the cross-sectional area average of the cube of the velocity to the cube of the average velocity. For a uniform velocity profile, Ot = 1. In turbulent flow, Ot is usually assumed to equal unity in turbulent pipe flow, it is typically about 1.07. For laminar flow in a circiilar pipe with a parabohc velocity profile, Ot = 2. 

In laminar flow,/is independent of /D. In turbulent flow, the friction factor for rough pipe follows the smooth tube curve for a range of Reynolds numbers (hydrauhcaUy smooth flow). For greater Reynolds numbers,/deviates from the smooth pipe cui ve, eventually becoming independent of Re. This region, often called complete turbulence, is frequently encountered in commercial pipe flows. The Reynolds number above which / becomes essentially independent of Re is (Davies, Turbulence Phenomena, Academic, New York, 1972, p. 37) 20[3.2-2.46ln( /D) ... 

Velocity Profiles In laminar flow, the solution of the Navier-Stokes equation, corresponding to the Hagen-PoiseuiUe equation, gives the velocity i as a Innction of radial position / in a circular pipe of radius R in terms of the average velocity V = Q/A. The parabolic profile, with centerline velocity t ce the average velocity, is shown in Fig. 6-10. 

FIG. 6-10 Parabolic velocity profile for laminar flow in a pipe, with average velocity V. 

Entrance and Exit Effects In the entrance region of a pipe, some distance is required for the flow to adjust from upstream conditions to the fuUy developed flow pattern. This distance depends on the Reynolds number and on the flow conditions upstream. For a uniform velocity profile at the pipe entrance, the computed length in laminar flow required for the centerline velocity to reach 99 percent of its fully developed value is (Dombrowski, Foumeny, Ookawara and Riza, Can. J. Chem. Engr, 71, 472 76 [1993])... 

Non-Newtonian Flow For isothermal laminar flow of time-independent non-Newtonian hquids, integration of the Cauchy momentum equations yields the fully developed velocity profile and flow rate-pressure drop relations. For the Bingham plastic flmd described by Eq. (6-3), in a pipe of diameter D and a pressure drop per unit length AP/L, the flow rate is given by... 

For steady-state laminar flow of any time-independent viscous fluid, at average velocity V in a pipe of diameter D, the Rabinowitsch-Mooney relations give a general relationship for the shear rate at the pipe wall. 

Steady state, fuUy developed laminar flows of viscoelastic fluids in straight, constant-diameter pipes show no effects of viscoelasticity. The viscous component of the constitutive equation may be used to develop the flow rate-pressure drop relations, which apply downstream of the entrance region after viscoelastic effects have disappeared. A similar situation exists for time-dependent fluids. 

Economic Pipe Diameter, Laminar Flow Pipehnes for the transport of high-viscosity liquids are seldom designed purely on the basis of economics. More often, the size is dictated oy operability considerations such as available pressure drop, shear rate, or residence time distribution. Peters and Timmerhaus (ibid.. Chap. 10) provide an economic pipe diameter chart for laminar flow. For non-Newtouiau fluids, see SkeUand Non-Newtonian Flow and Heat Transfer, Chap. 7, Wiley, New York, 1967). 

For laminar flow the losses in sudden contraction may be estimated for area ratios Ao A < 0.2 by an equivalent additional pipe length Lc given by... 

For laminar flow, data for the frictional loss of valves and fittings are meager. (Beck and Miller,y. Am. Soc. Nav. Eng., 56, 62-83 [194fl Beck, ibid., 56, 235-271, 366-388, 389-395 [1944] De Craene, Heat. Piping Air Cond., 27[10], 90-95 [1955] Karr and Schutz, j. Am. Soc. Nav. Eng., 52, 239-256 [1940] and Kittredge and Rowley, Trans. ASME, 79, 1759-1766 [1957]). The data of Kittredge and Rowley indicate that K is constant for Reynolds numbers above 500 to 2,000, but increases rapidly as Re decreases below 500. Typical values for K for laminar flow Reynolds numbers are shown in Table 6-5. 

Curved Pipes and Coils For flow through curved pipe or coil, a secondary circiilation perpendicular to the main flow called the Dean effect occurs. This circulation increases the friction relative to straight pipe flow and stabilizes laminar flow, delaying the transition Reynolds number to about... 

In laminar flow, the friction factor for curved pipe/ may be expressed in terms of the straight pipe friction factor/= 16/Re as (Hart, Chem. Eng. ScL, 43, 775-783 [1988])... 

Figure 6-40 shows power number vs. impeller Reynolds number for a typical configuration. The similarity to the friction factor vs. Reynolds number behavior for pipe flow is significant. In laminar flow, the power number is inversely proportional to Reynolds number, reflecting the dominance of viscous forces over inertial forces. In turbulent flow, where inertial forces dominate, the power number is nearly constant. 

See Benedict, loc. cit., for a general equation for pressure loss for nozzles installed in pipes or with plenum inlets. Nozzles show higher loss than venturis. Permanent pressure loss for laminar flow depends on the Reynolds number in addition to p. For details, see Alvi, Sri-dharan, and Lakshamana Rao, J. Fluids Eng., 100, 299-307 (1978). 

Half-pipe coil jacket Laminar flow... 

Laminar flow Fluid flow in which the fluid particles move in straight lines parallel to the axis of the pipe or duct. 

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