What is it about?
Most natural and engineered flows are turbulent, which means the fluid swirls and mixes as the flow proceeds. We use magnetic resonance methods (which use the same physics as hospital MRI scans) to look inside the flow and measure how turbulent the flow is. The fluid does not need to be transparent and there is no need to put any kind of probe into the fluid, which gives this type of measurement some unique features.
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Why is it important?
When the flow is highly turbulent much more of the useful mechanical energy in the flow is wasted as thermal energy. On the other hand turbulent flows are much more efficient at mixing than their smoother counterparts. It is equally important to be able to monitor turbulence in applications where turbulence is a disadvantage and in applications where it is an advantage.
Perspectives
When we made the measurement for the first time, we were surprised and pleased to discover that we could not only see whether the flow was turbulent of not, but we could also measure some properties of the turbulence.
Benedict Newling
University of New Brunswick
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Determining the flow transition from laminar to turbulence using simple spin-echo magnetic resonance techniques, Physics of Fluids, August 2023, American Institute of Physics,
DOI: 10.1063/5.0160536.
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