EXPERIMENTS ON TRANSITION TO TURBULENCE IN OSCILLATORY PIPE-FLOW

A laser-Doppler velocimeter is used to analyse volume-cycled oscillatory flow of a Newtonian viscous fluid in a straight circular tube. The axial velocity is measured at radial positions across the diameter of the tube for a wide range of amplitude A = stroke distance/tube radius (2.4 less-than-or-equal-to A less-than-or-equal-to 21.6) and Womersley parameter (9 < alpha < 33). Transition to turbulence is detected during the decelerating phase of fluid motion for 500 < R-delta) < 854, where R-delta = alpha-A square-root 2 is the Reynolds number based on Stokes-layer thickness. The turbulence is confined to an annular region which is a few times the Stokes-layer thickness near the wall. Hot-film anemometer measurements indicate the core flow remains stable when the boundary layer becomes turbulent for R-delta up to 1310.