Procedure

1. V2 and V3 valves were enclosed.

2. V1 valve was opened to let the water flow through the cylinder glass.
3. The water was fully filled in the cylinder to avoid the bubble and the dye was
poured into dye funnel by using conical flask to avoid any leakage.
4. V3 valve was slowly opened and regulated.
5. Valve V2 was opened.
6. The clip C1 was regulated until a thin straight line appeared in the glass
cylinder.
7. The water was left to flow out from the glass cylinder for about 3 seconds by
using stopwatch.
8. The volume of the water flow into the measuring cylinder every 3 seconds is
taken and the data was recorded in the table. Steps 1 to 7 were repeated
until the data of three types of flow which are laminar, transition and
turbulent is already appeared.
9. Valve V2 was fully opened once the experiment is completed and the valve
V3 was opened and the dye was flushed with water until no trace of it
observed in the dye injector.
10. Valve V3 was turned off.

Conclusion
There are two methods to determine the characteristic of the flow dye. The first
method is by observing the type of flow. When the dye flows in single line, it is
laminar flow. When it flows in both single and scattered line, it is transition and
when it flows roughly, it is turbulent flow. Second method is by calculating the
Reynolds number using the formula
Re=

vd

The higher the velocity of water, the higher the flow rate, the higher the Reynolds
number.
Re 4000 = turbulent flow
Re < 2300 = laminar flow
2300 < Re < 4000 = transition region

Discussion
In this experiment, we would like to observe the characteristics of the flow of a fluid
in a pipe, which may be laminar or turbulent flow by measuring the Reynolds
number and by observing the behavior of the flow. Based on the observation we get
all three types of flow which are laminar, transition and turbulent flow. However
there is some reading that were different in type of flow based on calculation and
observation. It shows that this experiment have errors. There was parallax error
happen because the eyes were not straight to the reading taken. Besides,
sometimes the machine vibrate and moving because there were students who
accidently push the machine so it had effect the observation for example it makes
the flow of the dye became faster and scattered and we see it as turbulent but
actually it was not turbulent. We also would like to prove the Reynolds number, Re is
dimensionless by using the formula;
Re=

vd

We cancel out all of the units like below,

kg m
m 2 . s2

m
kg .m . s
m3 s

Hence it is proven that Reynolds number is dimensionless. In fluid dynamics,

laminar flow is a flow regime characterized by high momentum diffusion and low
momentum convection. When a fluid is flowing through a closed channel such as a
pipe or between two flat plates, either two types of flow may occur depending on
the velocity of the fluid: laminar flow or turbulent flow. Laminar flow is the opposite
of turbulent flow which occurs at higher velocities where eddies or small packets of
fluid particles form leading to lateral mixing. In nonscientific terms laminar flow is
smooth, while turbulent flow is rough.

Based on the observation of the experiment, there are two methods to determine
the characteristic of the flow dye. The first method is by observing the type of flow.
We start the experiment with a slow velocity of water and it shows that the dye flow
at a single line smoothly and it shows that it is a laminar flow. When we increase the
velocity of water, half of the flow is in single line and half is scattered so we can say
that it is transition. We can see that when the velocity of water increase again, the
flow rate also increases and the water flow became rougher and it shows that it is
turbulent flow. The second method is by using the formula of Reynolds number.
From the calculation we can say that when:
Re 4000 = turbulent flow
Re < 2300 = laminar flow
2300 < Re < 4000 = transition region