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Turbulent Flow

With turbulent flow the fluid velocity at a particular place changes over time.The flow becomes chaotic and swirling eddies form. Turbulent flow increases the drag on a vehicle and therefore increases the fuel consumption.Laminar flow will change to turbulent flow when the speed increases to a certain value.The velocity at which laminar flow changes over to turbulent flow depends on the fluid, the shape and the area through which the object is moving.

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Specification: Edexcel Physics (8PH0), AS-level, Topic 4: Materials, statement 51. Topic: Fluids.

Key terms in this lesson

laminar flow
Smooth flow of a fluid in layers or streamlines, with no mixing between adjacent layers.

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