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Remarks on transition in a round tube

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2006

A. M. O. Smith
A. M. O. Smith
Affiliation:
Douglas Aircraft Company Inc., El Segundo, Califorina
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Abstract

This article has a twofold purpose: (1) to analyse the available theoretical and experimental knowledge concerning flow in the inlet region of a smooth round tube, and (2) to point out that the e9 amplification factor method apparently predicts natural transition correctly over a significant fraction of the entire inlet lenght of the tube. The successful prediction indicates, but does not prove, that flow in a smooth round tube becomes turbulent at higher Reynolds numbers because transition occurs in the inlet lenght—not in the fully developed Poiseuille régime. The close agreement between theory and a test result obtained by Pfenninger indicates that the e9 method is valid for a wide variety of flows having x Reynolds numbers of transition ranging from 570,000 to 40 million. The results are applicable to both plane and axially symmetric flows.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Fluid Mechanics , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , April 1960 , pp. 565 - 576
Copyright
© 1960 Cambridge University Press

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