An Investigation into Turbulent, Incompressible Flow Through Pipes

Abstract

In the Fall of 1982, I worked in the Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at GMI Engineering and Management Institute, Flint, Michigan. My position there was to assist with the design and construction of a system to analyze incompressible, turbulent flow in smooth pipes. The goal of this project was to have one piece of laboratory equipment that the students in the introductory fluid mechanics course could use to investigate several topics associated with fluid flow through pipes. These included flow rate measurement, friction losses, velocity profiles, and losses due to fittings in piping systems. The aim of this paper is to present to the reader the work involved in constructing this system, some basic fluid flow theory, and methods to experimentally examine the flow of fluids through pipes.