Attenuation of Sinusoidal Perturbations Superimposed on Laminar Flow of a Liquid in a Long Line
The attenuation constant for sinusoidal pressure and flow perturbations superimposed on the laminar flow of a viscous liquid was measured in a system consisting of a long, straight, cylindrical hydraulic line. The upstream and downstream ends of the line were securely fastened t o the ground. A sinusoidal perturbation was imposed on the mean flow at the upstream end by means of a s m a l l oscillation of a throttle valve abmt a partly open mean position. The downstream end was terminated in a restricting orifice. Pressure perturbations were measured at three locations along the line for frequencies from 15 t o 100 cps. These pressure measurements were reduced by use of a pair of complex damped acoustic one-dimensional wave equations to obtain the attenuation constant along with the phase constant and the dimensionless downstream admittance. For the range of frequencies investigated, the experimental values of the attenuation constant are in good agreement with classical theory.