Transition Flow Friction Factor

The transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs at Reynolds numbers varying from ca 2000 for n > 1 to ca 5000 for n = 0.2. In the laminar region the Fanning friction factor (Fig. 2) is identical to that for Newtonian fluids. In the turbulent region the friction factor drops significantly with decreasing values of producing a family of curves. 

FIG. 6-45 Friction factors for transition region flow across tube hanks, (Pitch is the minimum center-to-center tnhe spacing.) (Prom Bergelin, Btown, and Doherstein, Ti-ans. ASME, 74,. 9.53 [1.9.52],)... 

Laminar flow after transition usually turns into turbulent flow when Re > 2000. It has been shown that the pressure loss of a turbulent flow is caused by a friction factor with the magnitude of... 

This is the basis for establishing the condition or type of fluid flow in a pipe. Reynolds numbers below 2000 to 2100 are usually considered to define laminar or thscous flow numbers from 2000 to 3000-4000 to define a transition region of peculiar flow, and numbers above 4000 to define a state of turbulent flow. Reference to Figure 2-3 and Figure 2-11 will identify these regions, and the friction factors associated with them [2]. 

Transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs when the friction factor exceeds the low ARe range. In Fig. 2.20a the results obtained for a mbe of diameter 705 pm by Maynes and Webb (2002) are compared against the value accepted for laminar flow A = 64/Re. Based on the above data, one can conclude that the transition occurs at Tie >2,100. 

Glass and silicon tubes with diameters of 79.9-166.3 iim, and 100.25-205.3 am, respectively, were employed by Li et al. (2003) to study the characteristics of friction factors for de-ionized water flow in micro-tubes in the Re range of 350 to 2,300. Figure 3.1 shows that for fully developed water flow in smooth glass and silicon micro-tubes, the Poiseuille number remained approximately 64, which is consistent with the results in macro-tubes. The Reynolds number corresponding to the transition from laminar to turbulent flow was Re = 1,700—2,000. 

Wu and Cheng (2003) measured the friction factor of laminar flow of de-ionized water in smooth silicon micro-channels of trapezoidal cross-section with hydraulic diameters in the range of 25.9 to 291.0 pm. The experimental data were found to be in agreement within 11% with an existing theoretical solution for an incompressible, fully developed, laminar flow in trapezoidal channels under the no-slip boundary condition. It is confirmed that Navier-Stokes equations are still valid for the laminar flow of de-ionized water in smooth micro-channels having hydraulic diameter as small as 25.9 pm. For smooth channels with larger hydraulic diameters of 103.4-103.4-291.0pm, transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurred at Re = 1,500-2,000. 

The existence of roughness leads also to decreasing the value of the critical Reynolds number, at which transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs. The character of the dependence of the friction factor on the Reynolds number in laminar flow remains the same for both smooth and rough micro-channels, i.e., X = const/Re. 

A study of forced convection characteristics in rectangular channels with hydraulic diameter of 133-367 pm was performed by Peng and Peterson (1996). In their experiments the liquid velocity varied from 0.2 to 12m/s and the Reynolds number was in the range 50, 000. The main results of this study (and subsequent works, e.g., Peng and Wang 1998) may be summarized as follows (1) friction factors for laminar and turbulent flows are inversely proportional to Re and Re ", respectively (2) the Poiseuille number is not constant, i.e., for laminar flow it depends on Re as PoRe ° (3) the transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs at Re about 300-700. These results do not agree with those reported by other investigators and are probably incorrect. 

Because most applications for micro-channel heat sinks deal with liquids, most of the former studies were focused on micro-channel laminar flows. Several investigators obtained friction factors that were greater than those predicted by the standard theory for conventional size channels, and, as the diameter of the channels decreased, the deviation of the friction factor measurements from theory increased. The early transition to turbulence was also reported. These observations may have been due to the fact that the entrance effects were not appropriately accounted for. Losses from change in tube diameter, bends and tees must be determined and must be considered for any piping between the channel plenums and the pressure transducers. It is necessary to account for the loss coefficients associated with singlephase flow in micro-channels, which are comparable to those for large channels with the same area ratio. 

For smooth micro-channels the transition from laminar to turbulent flow occurs at Re = 1,500—2,200. For turbulent flows the friction factor maybe calculated as... 

Beattie, D. R. M., 1975, Friction Factors and Regime Transitions in High Pressure Steam-Water Flows, ASME Paper 75-WA/HT-4. (3)... 

Equation (6-41) adequately represents the Fanning friction factor over the entire range of Reynolds numbers within the accuracy of the data used to construct the Moody diagram, including a reasonable estimate for the intermediate or transition region between laminar and turbulent flow. Note that it is explicit in /. 

For the Bingham plastic, there is no abrupt transition from laminar to turbulent flow as is observed for Newtonian fluids. Instead, there is a gradual deviation from purely laminar flow to fully turbulent flow. For turbulent flow, the friction factor can be represented by the empirical expression of Darby and Melson (1981) [as modified by Darby et al. (1992)] ... 

Transitional Flow. Reynolds numbers and friction factors at which the flow changes from laminar to turbulent are indicated by the breaks in the plots of Figures 6.4(a) and (b). For Bingham models, data are shown directly on Figure 6.6. For power-law liquids an equation for the critical Reynolds number is due to Mishra and Triparthi [Trans. IChE 51, T141 (1973)],... 

Laminar and Turbulent Flow Below a critical Reynolds number of about 2,100, the flow is laminar over the range 2,100 < Re < 5,000 there is a transition to turbulent flow. Reliable correlations for the friction factor in transitional flow are not available. For laminar flow, the Hagen-Poiseuille equation... 

Churchill also provided a single equation that may be used for Reynolds numbers in laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow, closely fitting/= 16/Re in the laminar regime, and the Colebrook formula, Eq. (6-38), in the turbulent regime. It also gives unique, reasonable values in the transition regime, where the friction factor is uncertain. 

The most important case of this transition for chemical engineers is the transition from laminar to turbulent flow, which occurs in straight bounded ducts. In the case of Newtonian fluid rheology, this occurs in straight pipes when Re = 2100. A similar phenomenon occurs in pipes of other cross sections, as well and also for non-Newtonian fluids. However, just as the friction factor relations for these other cases are more complex than for simple Newtonian pipe flow, so the criteria for transition to turbulence cannot be expressed as a simple critical value of a Reynolds number. 

Figure 4 shows the experimentally determined friction factor as a function of the Reynolds number for a laboratory PPR module with six 4-mm-thick catalyst slabs of 68-mm width and 500-mm height, spaced apart with a pitch of 11 mm, and made up from 2.2-mm-diameter glass spheres enclosed in 0.5-mm gauze mesh [6]. It can be seen that the transition of laminar to turbulent flow occurs already at a low Reynolds number (approximately 1(XX)), which is attributable to the roughness of the channel walls caused by the wire gauze. 

The evolution of the Poiseuille number f Re) as a function of the Reynolds number is shown on figure 12. It is observed that the classical value for the laminar regime is obtained if the Reynolds number is less than 2000. The laminar turbulent transition occurs for the conventional value. The authors [22] investigated the entrance effects. They conclude that the friction factor is insensitive to the channel height and that there was no sign of a faster transition to turbulence compared to conventional channel flows. 

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