Cracking the Code: Scientists Solve Reynolds’ Century-Old Fluid Flow Mystery

United Kingdom News News

Cracking the Code: Scientists Solve Reynolds’ Century-Old Fluid Flow Mystery
United Kingdom Latest News,United Kingdom Headlines
  • 📰 SciTechDaily1
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 39 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Quality Score:
  • News: 19%
  • Publisher: 68%

Science, Space and Technology News 2024

Osborne Reynolds’ 1883 experiments demonstrated the transition from laminar to turbulent flow in water, which raised fundamental questions in fluid mechanics. Decades later, researchers led by Nigel Goldenfeld and Björn Hof applied statistical mechanics to solve these mysteries, showing that the laminar-turbulent transition in fluids behaves like directed percolation—a concept where flow rates determine the optimal extraction, similar to brewing coffee.

“This problem has been around for nearly 150 years and required a bit of unconventional thinking to solve,” said Goldenfeld, who also holds appointments in the Jacobs School of Engineering and the Halicioğlu Data Science Institute. “And time. Some of the team members have been working on this aspect of the problem for well over a decade.”

Although the Hof group had demonstrated directed percolation in a circular geometry, what happens in an open geometry like a pipe remained unclear. Moreover, the experiments are impractical to do in a pipe geometry. While a circle is never-ending, the researchers estimated that to perform the same experiment in a pipe would require a length of 2.5 miles, and it would take centuries to collect the necessary data points.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

SciTechDaily1 /  🏆 84. in US

United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Field Museum obtains rare blue-eyed cicada; scientists will try to solve color mysteryField Museum obtains rare blue-eyed cicada; scientists will try to solve color mysteryField Museum obtains rare blue-eyed cicada, scientists will try to solve color mystery
Read more »

Johns Hopkins Scientists Solve 30-Year Biological Mystery of Night BlindnessJohns Hopkins Scientists Solve 30-Year Biological Mystery of Night BlindnessScience, Space and Technology News 2024
Read more »

Scientists Solve 140-Year-Old Giant Antarctic Sea Spider Reproductive MysteryScientists Solve 140-Year-Old Giant Antarctic Sea Spider Reproductive MysteryScience, Space and Technology News 2024
Read more »

Can scientists ‘solve’ stress? They’re trying.Can scientists ‘solve’ stress? They’re trying.From cardiovascular disease and obesity to a weakened immune system, the side effects of stress can be life-altering. But there may be a way to prevent those outcomes.
Read more »

Scientists solve giant hummingbird mystery — with the help of tiny backpacksScientists solve giant hummingbird mystery — with the help of tiny backpacksResearchers strapped tiny backpacks to hummingbirds to study migration and discovered the world’s largest hummingbird species is distinct from another type.
Read more »

No-Code/Low-Code And Generative AI Go Hand In HandNo-Code/Low-Code And Generative AI Go Hand In HandPraerit Garg is President of Product & Innovation at Smartsheet, the enterprise platform for modern work management. Read Praerit Garg's full executive profile here.
Read more »



Render Time: 2025-04-05 13:15:53