Proceedings of the
International Conference on Mechanical Engineering 2009
(ICME2009) 26- 28 December 2009, Dhaka, Bangladesh

ICME09-FM-04

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FRACTAL TURBULENCE

S.M. Muztaba Salim, F.C.G. Nicolleau , M. Borkowski
University of Sheffield, Dept of mechanical Engineering, UK

ABSTRACT

Fractal turbulence is deemed much more efficient than grid turbulence in terms of the flow mixing
properties. In this paper, we present our hotwire experimental results of fractal turbulence generated by fractal orifice. The self-similar edge characteristic of the fractal orifice is thought to play the vital role in the enhanced mixing properties. We used four fractal orifices, each paired with a smooth orifice of equivalent flow area. The objectives were two folds, the first was to study the fractal scaling influence on the flow and the second was to explore the potential of the fractal orifice flow meter to determine the flow rate in a pipe. The results provided an excellent insight of the fractal generated turbulence and the fractal flow physics. Across the fractal orifice, the pressure drop was lower but the turbulence intensity was higher than those across the paired smooth orifice.

Keywords: Fractal, Turbulence, Hotwire.

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