Fluid Mechanics for Chemical Engineers with Microfluidics and CFD, Second Edition

Chapter 9. Turbulent Flow

9.1. Introduction

Turbulent fluid motion has been aptly described as “an irregular condition of flow in which the various quantities show a random variation with time and space coordinates, so that statistically distinct average values can be discerned.”¹

¹ J.O. Hinze, Turbulence—an Introduction to Its Mechanism and Theory, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1959.

A thorough understanding of turbulence has not been achieved to date, and may never be attained in the foreseeable future. For this reason, the subject is sometimes neglected in introductory fluid mechanics courses. But this should not be the case, and we should not be discouraged from trying to learn something about it, because—as nice as the solutions for laminar flow ...