Abstract
An accelerating laminar air flow initially at rest is generated in a circular pipe. Analytical solutions for the axial velocity component and wall shear stress of the flow are derived. Information on these quantities is helpful for a better understanding of the transition to turbulence in accelerating laminar pipe flows. A hot-wire anemometer is used for the measurement of these quantities. Both the measured values of the axial velocity component and wall shear stress before transition to turbulence are found to be favorably predicted by the analytical solutions.
