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High-Reynolds-number turbulence in small apparatus: grid turbulence in cryogenic liquids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2002

CHRISTOPHER M. WHITE
Affiliation:
Mason Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA Present address: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA.
ADONIOS N. KARPETIS
Affiliation:
Mason Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA Present address: Sandia National Laboratory, MS 9051, Livermore, CA 94511, USA.
KATEPALLI R. SREENIVASAN
Affiliation:
Mason Laboratory, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8286, USA

Abstract

Liquid helium at 4.2 K has a viscosity that is about 40 times smaller than that of water at room temperature, and about 600 times smaller than that of air at atmospheric pressure. It is therefore a convenient fluid for generating in a table-top apparatus turbulent flows at high Reynolds numbers that require large air and water facilities. Here, we produce turbulence behind towed grids in a liquid helium chamber that is 5 cm2 in cross-section at mesh Reynolds numbers of up to 7×105. Liquid nitrogen is intermediate in its viscosity as well as refrigeration demands, and so we also exploit its use to generate towed-grid turbulence up to mesh Reynolds number of about 2×104. In both instances, we map two-dimensional fields of velocity vectors using particle image velocimetry, and compare the data with those in water and air.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2002 Cambridge University Press

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