Definition
Plain language
A single number that tells you how turbulent versus smooth a fluid flow is.
As stated in the literature
A dimensionless ratio of inertial to viscous forces characterizing flow regime; higher values mean sharper gradients and stiffer simulations, motivating Reynolds-number continuation as a curriculum trick.
Also called: Reynolds-number continuation
Why it matters: It signals how turbulent and hard-to-simulate a flow is, so gradually raising it can ease a simulation toward a difficult, realistic regime.
For example, honey oozing slowly has a low Reynolds number, while fast, churning whitewater has a high one.
Heard on the show
“… and in memory there's an entry where the method that worked included something called Reynolds-number continuation. …”Episode 042 — An Agentic Scientific Computing System That Actually Remembers What It Learns