Shear flow themselves. In a shearing flow, adjacent layers of fluid move parallel to each other with different speeds. Viscous fluids resist this shearing motion. For a Newtonian fluid, the stress exerted by the fluid in resistance to the shear is proportional to the strain rate or shear rate. A simple example of a shear flow is Couette flow, in which a fluid is trapped between two large parallel plates, and one plate is moved with some relative velocity to the other. Here, the strain rate is simply the relative velocity divided by the distance between the plates. Shear flows in fluids
Airway resistance bronchi of intermediate size, in between the fourth and eighth bifurcation. Where air is flowing in a laminar manner it has less resistance than when it is flowing in a turbulent manner. If flow becomes turbulent, and the pressure difference is increased to maintain flow, this response itself increases resistance. This means that a large increase in pressure difference is required to maintain flow if it becomes turbulent. Whether flow is laminar or turbulent is complicated, however generally flow within a pipe will be laminar as long as the Reynolds number is less than 2300. Also called volumic airway resistance.