8 Introduction to Celebrities in Fluid Mechanics
611
8.27 Reynolds (1842–1912)
O. Reynolds (1842–1912, Ireland), British dynamicist, physicist, and engineer, graduated from Queen’s College of Cambridge University in 1867.
In 1868, he became the chief engineering professor of Manchester Owen
College (later renamed Victoria University). He was elected a member of
the Royal Society in 1877. He won the Royal medal in 1888. He was an
outstanding experimental scientist. In 1883, he published a classic paper On
the Conditions for Determining the Flow as a Straight or Curved Motion and
the Law of Resistance in Parallel Flumes. In this paper, the experimental results
showed that the flow is divided into laminar flow and turbulent flow, and
the dimensionless number Re (later called Reynolds number) was proposed
as the criterion to distinguish the two flow patterns. Reynolds put forward
the lubrication theory of bearings in 1886 and the concept of time average
decomposition in 1895, and derived the governing equation of the time
average motion of turbulence. He had a wide range of interests and had
written many literature in his life, among which nearly 70 papers have a
profound impact. The research contents of these papers include mechanics,
thermodynamics, electricity, aeronautics, steam engine characteristics, etc.
His achievements have been compiled into two volumes of The Proceedings
of Reynolds Mechanics and Physics (Fig. 8.27).
Fig. 8.27 Reynolds (1842–1912)
611
8.27 Reynolds (1842–1912)
O. Reynolds (1842–1912, Ireland), British dynamicist, physicist, and engineer, graduated from Queen’s College of Cambridge University in 1867.
In 1868, he became the chief engineering professor of Manchester Owen
College (later renamed Victoria University). He was elected a member of
the Royal Society in 1877. He won the Royal medal in 1888. He was an
outstanding experimental scientist. In 1883, he published a classic paper On
the Conditions for Determining the Flow as a Straight or Curved Motion and
the Law of Resistance in Parallel Flumes. In this paper, the experimental results
showed that the flow is divided into laminar flow and turbulent flow, and
the dimensionless number Re (later called Reynolds number) was proposed
as the criterion to distinguish the two flow patterns. Reynolds put forward
the lubrication theory of bearings in 1886 and the concept of time average
decomposition in 1895, and derived the governing equation of the time
average motion of turbulence. He had a wide range of interests and had
written many literature in his life, among which nearly 70 papers have a
profound impact. The research contents of these papers include mechanics,
thermodynamics, electricity, aeronautics, steam engine characteristics, etc.
His achievements have been compiled into two volumes of The Proceedings
of Reynolds Mechanics and Physics (Fig. 8.27).
Fig. 8.27 Reynolds (1842–1912)