PROCEDURES

1. Firstly, the apparatus is set up and measure and note down diameter of pipe and also
room temperature. The aluminum is filled well with dye, the metering tap (dye flow
control valve) and drain cock must be closed.
2. The pump is switched on, the control valve is carefully opened above the pump and
adjust the tap to produce a constant water level in the reservoir. After a time the test
pipe section is completely filled.
3. The drain cock is opened slightly to produce a low rate of flow into the test pipe
section.
4. The metering tap is opened and the dye is allowed to flow from the nozzle at the
entrance of the channel until a colored stream is visible along the test pipe section. The
velocity of water flow should be increased if the dye accumulates around the nozzle.
5. The water flow is adjusted until a laminar flow pattern which is a straight thin line or
streamline of dye is able to be seen along the whole test pipe section.
6. The time is collected in seconds for the liters volume of colored waste water that
flows down at the outlet pipe. The volume flow rate is calculated from the volume and a
known time.
7. Step 5-6 is repeated with increasing rate of flow by opening the drain cock and the
flow pattern of the fluid is observed as the flow changes from laminar to transition and
turbulent. Two readings are took till the dye stream in the test pipe section breaks up
and gets diffused in water.
8. All the apparatus is cleaned after the experiment is done.

RECOMMENDATION

There are many recommendations when operating the experiment are as follows:
1. Safety glasses with side shields shall be worn at all times during the experiment.
2. There is no waste associated with this experiment. Only small quantity dye water
are used in this experiment and they can be sent to the drain.
3. Keep the laboratory working space clean and uncluttered. Be aware of potential
hazards such as wet spots or debris on floors that could cause slips or falls.
4. Prior to operation of the system, familiarize yourself with the equipment.
5. Make sure eyes must be parallel to the scale reading the measuring cylinder to
avoid the parallax error.
6. When use the stopwatch make sure start and stop on time to avoid from effect
the reading of volume of water.
7. We must fully filled the water into the cylinder to avoid the bubble that can affect
our experiment reading.
8. Make sure the dye is pour into the dye funnel by using the conical flask to avoid
any leakage.
9. The experiment should be perform at suitable and place.
10. When to get appropriate laminar smooth stream flow,the clip and the valve which
control the injection of red dye must be regular slow and be carefull when the
twist the valve.
11. Inspections at regular intervals will be performed on the apparatus to ensure that
the apparatus is kept in a safe and well maintained condition.
12. The apparatus script/manual provided with the apparatus and this document
(SOP) should be read and understood because for safety.

APPARATUS

Figure 1:

Osborne Reynolds
Demonstration

Apparatus

1.
Base
8. Test Pipe

Plate
Section

2. Water
9. Ball

Reservoir
Block

3. Overflow
Waste

Section
10.
Water Discharge

4.
11.
Water

Aluminium Well
Connections for
Supply

5. Metering
Drain Cock

Tap

6. Brass Inflow Tip

12.

13. Control valve

7. Flow-Optimised Inflow

THEORY
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. Osborne
Reynolds in 1883 conducted a number of experiments to determine the Laws of
Resistance in pipes to classify types of flow. Reynolds number 'Re' is the ratio of inertia
force to the viscous force where viscous force is shear stress multiplied area and inertia
force is mass multiplied acceleration. Reynolds determined that the transition from

laminar to turbulent flow occurs at a definite value of the dimensionally property, called
Reynolds number:
Re = vd/ or Re= vd/

Where:
v = flow velocity (m/s)
= density (kg/m3)
d = inside diameter of pipe section (m)
= dynamic viscosity of the fluid (kg/ms)
Q = volumetric flow rate (m3/s)
A = cross sectional area of the pipe (m2)
= kinematics viscosity (m2/s)

Reynolds carried out experiments to decide limiting value of Reynold's number to a

quantitatively decide whether the flow is laminar or turbulent. The limits are as given
below:
Laminar when Re < 2300
Transition when 2300 < Re < 4000
Turbulent when Re > 4000

Figure 2 : Three flow regimes: (a) laminar, (b) transitional & (c) turbulent
The motion is laminar or turbulent according to the value of Re is less than or greater
than a certain value. If experiments are made with decreasing rate of flow, the value of
Re depends on degree of care which is taken to eliminate the disturbances in the supply
or along the pipe. On the others hand, if experiments are made with decreasing flow,
transition from turbulent to laminar flow takes place at a value of Re which is very much
depends on initial disturbances. The valve of Re is about 2000 for flow through circular
pipe and below this the flow is laminar in nature. The velocity at which the flow in the
pipe changes from one type of motion to the other is known as critical velocity.