Laminar-turbulent transition in Hagen–Poiseuille flow of a real gas

ABSTRACT

The effect of gas non-ideality on the laminar-turbulent transition is studied experimentally as the flow in a long circular tube at room temperature. The gases SF₆ and Ar, differing significantly in the value of the second virial coefficient, were chosen for this study. Experiments were carried out by varying the pressure at the tube inlet (the maximum pressure of 10⁵ Pa) and at the tube outlet up to the chock flow (formation of a supersonic flow at the outlet). The difference between the critical Reynolds numbers in the flow of SF₆ and Ar was found. The largest difference was observed for the maximum pressures; with a decrease in pressure, the critical Reynolds numbers become closer. The conclusion is an effect of the non-ideal character of gas exists on the laminar-turbulent transition in Hagen–Poiseuille flow. Some experiments were suggested to confirm this conclusion.

KEYWORDS:

• Laminar-turbulent transition
• Hagen–Poiseuille flow
• real gas

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Russian State Program of Fundamental Scientific Research [grant number III.22.8.3]. State Registration No 01201350452.