In this paper, the possibility of extending the Kolmogoroff's model of multi-scale turbulence structure to dense slurry flows in pipelines is explored. The analysis is based on experimental data of slurry behavior as a Newtonian liquid with some equivalent density and viscosity. A connection is made between the turbulence structure and the head losses in the pipeline that can be calculated by the known engineering methods. The latter, the total loss, is considered as comprising of viscous and turbulent components, and the turbulent component is associated with the turbulence structure. In this paper, the lower turbulence scale for the dense slurries is estimated. For the simulation of turbulence in stratified flows, a modified application of the known two-layer model of slurry flow is proposed. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.