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Intermittency and rough-pipe turbulence

Mohammad Mehrafarin and Nima Pourtolami
Phys. Rev. E 77, 055304(R) – Published 15 May 2008

Abstract

Recently, by analyzing the measurement data of Nikuradze [NACA Tech. Memo No. 1292 (1950)], it has been proposed [N. Goldenfeld, Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 044503 (2006)] that the friction factor, f, of rough-pipe flow obeys a scaling law in the turbulent regime. Here, we provide a phenomenological scaling argument to explain this law and demonstrate how intermittency modifies the scaling form, thereby relating f to the intermittency exponent, η. By statistically analyzing the measurement data of f, we infer a satisfactory estimate for η (0.02), the inclusion of which is shown to improve the data-collapse curve. This provides empirical evidence for intermittency other than the direct measurement of velocity fluctuations.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 23 February 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.77.055304

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Mohammad Mehrafarin* and Nima Pourtolami

  • Department of Physics, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran 15914, Iran

  • *mehrafar@aut.ac.ir

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 5 — May 2008

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