Introducing a Rheology Model for Non-Newtonian Drilling Fluids

An API standard drilling fluid was investigated from laminar to turbulent flow conditions using an in-house-built viscometer at speeds from 200 to 1600 RPM. A power-based method was applied to obtain the apparent viscosity and the shear stress of the water-based drilling mud (WBM) in the annulus of the viscometer. Then, a MATLAB optimization program was developed to obtain model parameters for five rheology models integrated in a generalized Herschel-Bulkley-Extended (HBE) model and two widely used 4-parameter models in drilling industry. It is found that the Bingham, Cross, and HBE rheology models have precisely matched the WBM measurements in the viscometer. A generalized Reynolds number was applied to determine the Darcy friction factor although the PL (power law model) and the HB (Herschel-Bulkley model) exhibited a nonrealistic negative shift from the laminar friction factor.

Evaluation of a Cost-Effective Technology for the Experimental Investigation of Microflows With Water and Liquid Metal

In this technical brief, we investigate the feasibility to use a cost-effective system for the study of frictional losses in hydro- and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows. Experiments are performed in rectangular channels with different aspect ratios, whose dimensions range from 500 μm to 1.835 mm. Fabrication is done with conventional technology, and characterization by commercial sensors and open-source electronic prototyping platforms. Water and GaInSn are used as working fluids. GaInSn experiments are performed for one aspect with and without external magnetic field. For these experiments, Reynolds number varies from 80 to 1000. Characterization is performed in terms of the Darcy friction factor. Uncertainty associated with this common fabrication and characterization methodology is presented.

A NOVEL FRACTAL SOLUTION FOR LAMINAR FLOW RESISTANCE IN ROUGHENED CYLINDRICAL MICROCHANNELS

In this work, a novel fractal model for the laminar flow in roughened cylindrical microchannels is proposed. The average height of rough elements is derived using the fractal theory. The effects of relative roughness on the friction factor and the Poiseuille number are discussed. It is found that the Darcy friction factor and the Poiseuille number increase with the increase in the relative roughness in the cylindrical microchannel. Besides, it is observed that the Darcy friction factor decreases with the increase in the Reynolds number. Each parameter of the proposed model has a clear physical meaning. The present model can properly reveal some mechanisms that affect the laminar flow in roughened cylindrical microchannels. The present model improves the understanding of the physical mechanisms of fluid flows through roughened cylindrical microchannels. Our model predictions are compared with the existing experimental data, and good agreement can be found.

A New Form of Velocity Distribution in Rectangular Microchannels with Finite Aspect Ratios

This study presents a new form of velocity distribution in laminar liquid flow in rectangular microchannels using the eigenfunction expansion technique. Darcy friction factor and Poiseuille number are also obtained analytically. Due to the symmetry of the solutions, the effects of changing the aspect ratio from 0 to ∞ are also discussed. Using finite element method (FEM), the obtained analytical results are further compared with the 3D numerical simulations for the rectangular microchannels with different range of aspect ratio and pressure gradient, and excellent agreements were found. These findings provide additional insights in interpreting the results of the pressure-driven flows in finite aspect ratio microchannels, in which very precise comparison with the macroscale theory is crucial.

Numerical investigation on turbulent convective heat transfer of nanofluid flow in a square cross-sectioned duct

Purpose The purpose of this study is to numerically investigate the heat transfer enhancement by using two different nanofluids flow throughout the square duct under a constant heat flux (500 × 103 W/m2). Design/methodology/approach In numerical computations, ANSYS Fluent code based on the finite volume method was used to solve governing equations by iteratively. Water, Al2O3-water and TiO2-water nanofluids were used for different flow velocities changing 1 m/s to 8 m/s (i.e. Reynolds number varying from 3,000 to 100,000). Findings The results were compared with results published previously in the literature and close agreement was observed especially considering Dittus and Boelter correlation for water. It was found that from the obtained results, increasing flow velocity and volume fractions of nanoparticles has caused to increase Nu number for all cases. Besides, variations of pressure drop, Darcy friction factor are presented graphically and discussed in detail. The results are consistent with a deviation of 1.3 to 15 per cent with the results of other researchers. Originality/value The effects of the Re numbers and volume fractions of nanoparticles (0.01 ≤ Φ ≤ 0.04) on the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics such as average Nu number, pressure drop (ΔP) and Darcy friction factor (f) were investigated.

Application of a fast transonic trajectory determination approach in 1-D modelling of steady-state two-phase carbon dioxide flow

An original generalised procedure of determination of the transonic trajectory has been proposed. The procedure is much faster than the commonly used Newton Critical Point approach. The approach was applied in modelling of a carbon dioxide transonic two-phase flow through the converging-diverging nozzle by means of the Homogeneous Equilibrium Model and Delayed Equilibrium Model (DEM). The simulations concern flows that were experimentally and theoretically investigated in the literature. DEM was prev ously used only in choked water flow simulations. Its application in CO2 flow modelling and the supersonic trajectory part determination is a novel contribution. The adjusted for CO2 version of the closurelaw was proposed. The investigation revealed that the applied Darcy friction factor determination approach has a significant influence on the results. Moreover, the models are unable of producing physically acceptable solutions until theLockhartMartinelli approach is utilised. It was shown that the Friedel approach might be considered more proper for CO2 flows.

Experimental investigations of ice slurry flow based on monoethylene glycol at high ice fractions

Ice slurry has so many advantages as phase-change slurries due to the high latent heat of its particles. Ice slurry is one of a competitive alternative to conventional secondary refrigeration systems that have been successfully employed in many applications. In this research, ice slurry flow with monoethylene glycol (MEG) at high ice fractions was investigated. The experiment was carried out by measuring shear stress and flow rate as variable to calculate power law index. The experiment was performed in 14 mm, 21 mm, and 24 mm circular tubes, respectively. The Initial concentration of 5 wt%, 7 wt%, and 10 wt% of MEG was investigated. Ice fraction was maintained above 30% in a storage tank. Experimental results of the Darcy friction factor were compared to Poiseuille and Blasius model. The ice slurry flows exhibited a shear-thickening flow (n>1) for all initial concentration in the range 1.07 - 1.58. The Greater initial concentration of MEG tends to give smaller friction compared with another ice slurry flow with smaller initial concentration.

Three-dimensional numerical investigation of turbulent flow and heat transfer inside a horizontal semi-circular cross-sectioned duct

In this study, steady-state turbulent forced flow and heat transfer in a horizontal smooth semi-circular cross-sectioned duct was numerically investigated. The study was carried out in the turbulent flow condition where Reynolds numbers range from 1?104 to 5.5?104. Flow is hydrodynamically and thermally developing (simultaneously developing flow) under uniform surface heat flux with uniform peripheral wall heat flux (H2) boundary condition on the duct?s wall. A commercial CFD program, Ansys Fluent 12.1, with different turbulent models was used to carry out the numerical study. Different suitable turbulence models for fully turbulent flow (k-? Standard, k-? Realizable, k-? RNG, k-? Standard and k-? SST) were used in this study. The results have shown that as the Reynolds number increases Nusselt number increases but Darcy friction factor decreases. Based on the present numerical solutions, new engineering correlations were presented for the average Nusselt number and average Darcy friction factor. The numerical results for different turbulence models were compared with each other and similar experimental investigations carried out in the literature. It is obtained that, k-? Standard, k-? Realizable and k-? RNG turbulence models are the most suitable turbulence models for this investigation. Isovel contours of velocity magnitude and temperature distribution for different Reynolds numbers, turbulence models and axial stations in the duct were presented graphically. Also, local heat transfer coefficient and local Darcy friction factor as function of dimensionless position along the duct were obtained in this investigation.

Local Friction Factor of Compressible Laminar or Turbulent Flow in Micro-Tubes

Laminar/turbulent flows of compressible fluid in microtubes were simulated numerically to obtain the effect of compressibility on the local pipe friction factors. For gaseous flows, the effect of compressibility had not been clarified except for laminar flow whose Mach number is less than 0.45, so the present work extended this to handle higher speed flows including choked ones and turbulent flows. The numerical procedure based on arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian method solves two-dimensional compressible momentum and energy equations. The Lam-Bremhorst Low-Reynolds number turbulence model was adopted to calculate eddy viscosity coefficient and turbulence energy. The physical domain of simulation with the back region downstream from the outlet of the micro-tube was used to be able to calculate the case of under-expansion flow in the tube. The orthogonal curvilinear grid was used for the computational mesh to obtain accurate results. The computations were performed for a wide range of Reynolds number and Mach number including laminar/turbulent choked flows. It was found that in laminar regimes the ratio of the Darcy friction factor to its conventional (incompressible flow’s) value is a function of Mach number and the same goes for the Fanning friction factor. On the other hand, in turbulent regimes, the ratio is still a function of Mach number for the Darcy friction factor but is equal to about unity for the Fanning friction factor. Namely, the Fanning friction factor of gaseous flow in micro-tubes coincides with Blasius formula, even when Mach number is not small and compressibility effect appears. This fact can be seen in choked flow.