Laminar flow

Description

The smooth, nonturbulent flow of a liquid or gas through a passage. Laminar flow provides the fastest flow rate while minimizing any mixing or diffusion in the liquid stream. Fume hoods are designed with laminar flow to efficiently remove the maximum air volume with minimal recirculation or dead spots. Additionally, the lack of turbulence in laminar flow fume hoods minimizes particle contamination.

Synonyms and Related Terms

viscous flow; streamline flow; low-Reynolds number flow, laminares Fluß (Deut.); flux laminaire (Fr.); escoamento laminar (Port.)

Resources and Citations

• Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Dictionary of Fiber & Textile Technology (older version called Man-made Fiber and Textile Dictionary, 1965), Hoechst Celanese Corporation, Charlotte NC, 1990

• Random House, Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, Grammercy Book, New York, 1997

• The American Heritage Dictionary or Encarta, via Microsoft Bookshelf 98, Microsoft Corp., 1998