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The Reynolds number is the ratio of inertial forces to viscous forces within a fluid that is subjected to relative internal movement due to different fluid velocities. A region where these forces change behavior is known as a boundary layer, such as the bounding surface in the interior of a pipe.
For example, it is used to calculate flow through circular and non-circular tubes in order to examine flow conditions (i.e., the Reynolds number). In those cases, the characteristic length is the diameter of the pipe or, in case of non-circular tubes, its hydraulic diameter D h {\displaystyle D_{h}} :
Dimensionless numbers (or characteristic numbers) have an important role in analyzing the behavior of fluids and their flow as well as in other transport phenomena. [1] They include the Reynolds and the Mach numbers, which describe as ratios the relative magnitude of fluid and physical system characteristics, such as density, viscosity, speed of sound, and flow speed.
In fluid dynamics, the entrance length is the distance a flow travels after entering a pipe before the flow becomes fully developed. [1] Entrance length refers to the length of the entry region, the area following the pipe entrance where effects originating from the interior wall of the pipe propagate into the flow as an expanding boundary layer.
The Reynolds number Re is taken to be Re = V D / ν, where V is the mean velocity of fluid flow, D is the pipe diameter, and where ν is the kinematic viscosity μ / ρ, with μ the fluid's Dynamic viscosity, and ρ the fluid's density. The pipe's relative roughness ε / D, where ε is the pipe's effective roughness height and D the pipe ...
Note that for the case of a circular pipe, D H = 4 π R 2 2 π R = 2 R {\displaystyle D_{\text{H}}={\frac {4\pi R^{2}}{2\pi R}}=2R} The need for the hydraulic diameter arises due to the use of a single dimension in the case of a dimensionless quantity such as the Reynolds number , which prefers a single variable for flow analysis rather than ...
The Reynolds and Womersley Numbers are also used to calculate the thicknesses of the boundary layers that can form from the fluid flow’s viscous effects. The Reynolds number is used to calculate the convective inertial boundary layer thickness that can form, and the Womersley number is used to calculate the transient inertial boundary thickness that can form.
The ratio of length to radius of a pipe should be greater than 1/48 of the Reynolds number for the Hagen–Poiseuille law to be valid. [9] If the pipe is too short, the Hagen–Poiseuille equation may result in unphysically high flow rates; the flow is bounded by Bernoulli's principle, under less restrictive conditions, by