VELOCITY DISTRIBUTION AND TURBULENCE STRUCTURE OF FULLY DEVELOPED FLOW IN A CURVED TUBE

Turbulent structures in a curved circular tube were measured for three values of the curve radius to the tube radius ratio, R. Distributions of turbulent energy and axial and radial velocities are obtained in a fully developed flow region by a hot wire anemometer. Turbulent energy and Reynolds stress, become maximum in the core region, where turbulence generation becomes maximum. When R is small, turbulent generation does not balance with turbulent energy dissipation, due to a convective effect induced by secondary flow. Experimental results for Reynolds stress and turbulent energy are compared with theoretical results. Due to the secondary flow effect, for small R value flow, the ratio of these two values was not uniform in the core region.