Laminar and Turbulent Flow

Definitions

Laminar Flow: Smooth and orderly flow.
Turbulent Flow: Colliding layers and more chaotic flow

These are properties of the flow not the fluid and is determined by the Reynolds number.
$\mathrm{Re}=\frac{VL}{v}=\frac{\rho VL}{\mu }$

• Where $v$ is the kinematic viscosity and $\mu$ is the dynamic viscosity

Laminar Flow

• Can be steady or unsteady
• The boundary layer kind of folds inwards

Turbulent Flow

• Continuum scales
• Unsteady
• The boundary layer curves around the object

How to find out if a flow is laminar or turbulent

You can kind of tell by looking at it, or probe the flow and examine the signal