The onset of turbulence in particle-laden pipe flows

Abstract

We propose a scaling law for the onset of turbulence in pipe flow of neutrally buoyant suspensions. This scaling law, based on a large set of experimental data, relates the amplitude of the particle-induced perturbations ($\epsilon$) to the critical suspension Reynolds number, $R{e}_{s,c}$. Here $\epsilon$ is a function of the particle-to-pipe diameter ratio and the volume fraction of the suspended particles, $\epsilon =(d/D{)}^{1/2}{\varphi }^{1/6}$. $R{e}_{s,c}$ is found to scale as ${\epsilon }^{-1}$. Furthermore, the perturbation amplitude allows a distinction between classical, intermediate and particle-induced transition.

6 pages, 5 figures

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