Radial Mixing in Steady and Accelerating Pipe Flows

Understanding solute transport in pipe flows is essential for ensuring consistent water quality throughout the entire drinking water supply network. This study used four planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) units for the first time to quantify the cross-sectional concentration distribution resulting from a single pulse of tracer injected at an upstream location under both steady and accelerating flow conditions. Compared with conventional fluorometers, PLIF provides a better measure of the cross-sectional mean concentrations because it allows the cross-sectional distribution of the tracer to be quantified. Under steady turbulent flow conditions, the tracer was cross-sectionally well-mixed, and the concentration uniformity increased with increasing Reynolds number. In laminar flows, as a result of minimal radial mixing, the tracer exhibited a spatial distribution created by the longitudinal differential advection, transforming from a central core to an annulus, which expanded toward the pipe boundary. Under accelerating flows, the temporal concentration profiles displayed two peaks and the tracer close to the source was not cross-sectionally well-mixed. With increasing discharge, the tracer became cross-sectionally well-mixed while retaining the two peak profiles. These results have implications for water quality modeling in unsteady conditions, especially in domestic plumbing, when boundary and biofilm interactions control important processes.