On pipe diameter effects in surfactant drag-reducing pipe flows

Remarkable power saving in a fluid transport system is possible if the surfactant drag reduction technology is used. Application of surfactant drag reduction to district heating and cooling systems has been investigated in the past. The establishment of the scale-up law in drag-reducing pipe flows is one of the most important problems in this application. Main purpose of this study is aimed to develop a reliable scale-up law in surfactant drag-reducing flows. As the basic data of surfactant solutions, both non-Newtonian viscosity and viscoelasticity were experimentally determined. A turbulent eddy diffusivity model based on the Maxwell model was employed to estimate the drag reduction of surfactant solutions. The predictions by the turbulence model developed in this study with proper rheological characteristics of surfactant solutions has resulted in a reliable estimation of the pipe diameter effect in surfactant drag-reducing flows over the pipe diameter range from 11 to 150mm. Received: 30 June 1997 Accepted: 29 December 1997     

矩形槽道内表面活性剂减阻流体场特性

采用粒子图像测速仪对矩形槽道内表面活性减阻流体在流动方向(x方向)与壁 面垂直方向(y方向)所在平面的流场进行了测量,分析了速度、涡量、速度脉 动相关量在流场内的瞬态分布,以及对500幅相同工况的流场进行了统计平均. 结 果显示: 与牛顿流体相比, 表面活性剂减阻流体接近于层流流动,横向速度脉动被大幅 减弱,导致湍流输运减弱,雷诺应力远远小于水. 减阻流体流向速度脉动呈条带 特征,沿流动方向发展,反映了减阻流体不同于水的湍流输运特征.     

添加剂湍流减阻流动与换热研究综述

添加剂湍流减阻是指在液体的管道湍流中添加少量的高分子聚合物或某种表面活性剂从而使湍流阻力大大降低的现象.从其被发现至今,经过近半个世纪的研究(实验研究、理论分析、数值模拟和实际系统的应用研究),尽管对这一现象及其实际应用价值已有了较为深入的认识,但仍有许多方面尚有欠缺,例如对湍流减阻的机理仍然在探索中.本文归纳评述了高分子聚合物或表面活性剂添加剂湍流减阻流动与换热现象的研究现状,从湍流减阻剂的特性、减阻剂的湍流减阻机理、湍流减阻发生时的换热机理、减阻流动速度场分布和换热控制等几个方面综述了添加剂湍流减阻流动与换热特性,并综述了湍流减阻剂在实际工业系统中的应用情况,在对添加剂湍流减阻机理、有湍流减阻发生时的对流换热机理等的理解方面进行了新的总结.      

Drag reduction in aqueous cationic soap solutions

The pipe flow drag-reducing properties of mixtures of alkyltrimethylammonium halides with 1-naphthol in aqueous solution have been investigated. The effects of solution concentration, soap-naphthol ratio, soap molecular weight and solution temperature upon drag reduction and swirl decay time are reported. The critical wall shear stresses above which the drag-reducing properties cease correlate well with swirl decay time. At low soap concentrations greater than equimolar proportions of 1-naphthol with the soap are required for maximum drag reduction. The drag-reducing properties of these solutions are greatest at and around the Krafft point of the pure soap. A phenomenon similar to onset for polymer solution drag reduction is reported for these soap solutions.     

Visual study of bursting using infrared technique

The turbulent flow of water and high drag-reducing surfactant solution in a flume was studied experimentally. We used a new method of burst frequency detection based on visual observation of the thermal spots on the free fluid surface. An analysis and comparison with results of previous investigations is presented in this study, with a special emphasis on the connection between the bursting frequency in drag-reducing solutions and onset of drag reduction. The effect of burst damping is discussed.     

表面活性剂减阻水溶液突扩流的阻力特性

为揭示胶束水溶液突扩流的减阻特性,实验研究了质量分数为1×10-4, 2 ×10-4的十六烷基三甲基溴化铵水溶液通过管径比为1:1.52的突扩的流动阻力行为. 实验结果表明,在直管段最大减阻率都可达到70%的两给定质量分数的胶束水溶液,其突扩局部阻力系数,在较低雷诺数区域,较牛顿流体仅有10%~20%程度的降低,呈现局部低减阻特性;在较高雷诺数区域远大于牛顿流体,尤其当突扩进口流快失去减阻能力时,甚至接近牛顿流体的1.5倍,呈现明显的局部增阻行为. 胶束水溶液减阻流,在突扩下游再次形成充分发展流所需的下游长度,远大于牛顿流体的7.8倍下游管径(45倍突扩台阶高度),流入突扩前完全失去减阻能力的质量分数为2×10-4的胶束水溶液流,所需的突扩下游长度达到最大,约合158倍下游管径(920倍突扩台阶高度). 通过胶束水溶液流变特性的实验分析认为,减阻水溶液突扩流的阻力行为与它的胶束网联结构的形成及松弛的时间特性密切相关.      

矩形槽道内表面活性剂减阻流体流场特性

采用粒子图像测速仪对矩形槽道内表面活性减阻流体在流动方向(x方向)与壁面垂直方向(y方向)所在平面的流场进行了测量,分析了速度、涡量、速度脉动相关量在流场内的瞬态分布,以及对500幅相同工况的流场进行了统计平均. 结果显示: 与牛顿流体相比, 表面活性剂减阻流体接近于层流流动,横向速度脉动被大幅减弱,导致湍流输运减弱,雷诺应力远远小于水. 减阻流体流向速度脉动呈条带特征,沿流动方向发展,反映了减阻流体不同于水的湍流输运特征.      

Friction and heat transfer in drag-reducing surfactant solution flow through curved pipes and elbows

A study of drag-reducing flow in curved pipes was conducted. In contrast to earlier studies we show that if we use a modified definition of drag reduction that includes only the turbulence effects, we observe indeed the same level of drag reduction in both coiled and straight pipes. More complex results showing reduced drag reduction compared to curved pipes were achieved with elbows. Two elbows of different size and type were tested in turbulent flow of both water and drag-reducing surfactant solution. A more elaborate analysis was conducted for a half-inch threaded elbow with a ratio of curvature radius to diameter of 1.2. The pressure drop and heat transfer were measured in a section downstream from the elbow over a distance of x/D = 130 in order to investigate the hydrodynamic and thermal developments of the flow. The pressure drop coefficient of the elbow was calculated for water and a surfactant solution, based on the total increase in pressure drop in the system due to the presence of the elbow. For a larger welded elbow of 6″ diameter some drag reduction was measured for the surfactant solution.     

Analysis of an organized turbulent structure using a pattern recognition technique in a drag-reducing surfactant solution flow

This work presents the investigation for an organized turbulent structure in a drag-reducing flow of dilute surfactant solution by utilizing a particle image velocimetry system to perform the pattern recognition technique on a trajectory in four quadrants of streamwise and wall-normal velocity fluctuations. The pattern recognition is added to a new algorithm in order to directly capture the spatial rotation motion. The Reynolds number based on the channel height and bulk mean velocity was set to 1.5 × 10⁴. Surfactant solution with a weight concentration of 150 ppm was employed and the drag reduction rate was 65%. In the drag-reducing flow, we observe increased frequencies of occurrence of the flow events that correspond to a meandering motion in the wall-normal direction of the high-and low-speed regions. Three findings from investigation of the ensemble-averaged Reynolds shear stress and vortex structure are as follows: (i) the Reynolds shear stress in the large fluctuation range occurs in the narrow region; (ii) Size, strength, arrangement and inclination in the spatial vortex structure in the drag-reducing flow differ from those of the water; and (iii) all trajectory contributions for the wall friction coefficient decrease. Finally, we interpreted that the viscoelasticity characterizing the viscoelastic stress and relaxation time in rheological properties of the flow changes specific elementary vortex for the drag-reducing flow, and the trajectories of each flow pattern change drastically.     

Numerical and experimental investigation of turbulent characteristics in a drag-reducing flow with surfactant additives

Cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride (CTAC) surfactant additives, because of their long-life characteristics, can be used as promising drag-reducers in district heating and cooling systems. In the present study we performed both numerical and experimental tests for a 75 ppm CTAC surfactant drag-reducing channel flow. A two-component PIV system was used to measure the instantaneous streamwise and wall-normal velocity components. A Giesekus constitutive equation was adopted to model the extra stress due to the surfactant additives, with the constitutive parameters being determined by well-fitting apparent shear viscosities, as measured by an Advanced Rheometric Expansion System (ARES) rheometer. In the numerical study, we connected the realistic rheological properties with the drag-reduction rate. This is different from previous numerical studies in which the model parameters were set artificially. By performing consistent comparisons between numerical and experimental results, we have obtained an insight into the mechanism of the additive-induced drag-reduction phenomena.

Our simulation showed that the addition of surfactant additives introduces several changes in turbulent flow characteristics: (1) In the viscous sublayer, the mean velocity gradient becomes gentler due to the viscoelastic forces introduced by the additives. The buffer layer becomes expanded and the slope of the velocity profile in the logarithmic layer increases. (2) The locations where the streamwise velocity fluctuation and Reynolds shear stress attain their maximum value shifted from the wall region to the bulk flow region. (3) The root-mean-square velocity fluctuations in the wall-normal direction decrease for the drag-reducing flow. (4) The Reynolds shear stress decreases dramatically and the deficit of the Reynolds shear stress is mainly compensated by the viscoelastic shear stress. (5) The turbulent production becomes much smaller and its peak-value position moves toward the bulk flow region. All of these findings agree qualitatively with experimental measurements.

Regarding flow visualization, the violent streamwise vortices in the near wall region become dramatically suppressed, indicating that the additives weaken the ejection and sweeping motion, and thereby inhibit the generation of turbulence. The reduction in turbulence is accomplished by additive-introduced viscoelastic stress. Surfactant additives have dual effects on frictional drag: (1) introduce viscoelastic shear stress, which increases frictional drag; and (2) dampen the turbulent vortical structures, decrease the turbulent shear stress, and then decrease the frictional drag. Since the second effect is greater than the first one, drag-reduction occurs.     

Rheological characteristics of trimethylolethane hydrate slurry treated with drag-reducing surfactants

Rheological characteristics of trimethylolethane (TME) clathrate–hydrate slurry treated with drag-reducing surfactants were investigated. Friction coefficients and apparent viscosities were measured when the concentration of TME and its hydrate fraction treated with and without drag-reducing surfactants were changed in several steps. From the results, it is found that the surfactant addition causes effective drag reduction in a pipe flow when the hydrate fraction becomes high, while effective drag reduction disappears in the cases of low hydrate fraction. The results of viscosity measurements indicate that the TME molecules disturb the formation of shear-induced structures (SIS) causing drag reduction phenomena. To investigate this interaction between TME and surfactant micelles, the effect of TME concentration on viscosity and relaxation time of solutions was discussed. From this, it was found out that there exists a critical concentration of TME on the formation of SIS and that it becomes larger as shear rate increases. Thus, we conclude that this interaction between TME and micellar structures causes less drag reduction for the cases of low hydrate fraction, while the drag reduction appears in cases of high hydrate fraction because TME concentration in liquid phase becomes small.     

减阻用表面活性剂溶液分子动力学模拟研究进展

减阻用表面活性剂在能源动力及化工领域有着广泛应用,在管道流体中加入少量表面活性剂可以使流动阻力大大降低从而节约能源,对于表面活性剂减阻机理的讨论也是近些年学者关注的热点之一.本文不仅对课题组前些年在表面活性剂溶液流变性、湍流减阻、减阻与传热的相关性、布朗动力学模拟方面的工作进行了概述,而且详细介绍了近三年来在表面活性剂粗粒化分子动力学模拟方面的研究成果.粗粒化模拟是近年来发展起来的方法,目前已广泛应用于化学、生物等诸多领域.在粗粒化分子动力学模拟方面的工作包括:表面活性剂溶液的流变性能与微观结构、表面活性剂溶液湍流减阻机理研究、湍流减阻失效分析三个部分.通过对表面活性剂溶液分子动力学模拟研究进展的回顾,作者认为,利用粗粒化分子动力学模拟方法可以合理揭示表面活性剂胶束的结构与流变性的对应关系,对胶束的断裂与再连接能力进行多维度的评价,如胶束的拉伸能、断裂能、最大拉伸长度、结合能、$\zeta$电势、疏水基驱动作用等方面.并对"黏弹说"减阻机理进行分子模拟层面的验证,对实际应用中的湍流减阻失效原理进行初步分析.最后,根据对近几年分子动力学模拟工作的总结,展望了未来粗粒化分子动力学模拟在表面活性剂方面的研究方向.      

Experiments in Turbulent Pipe Flow with Polymer Additives at Maximum Drag Reduction

In this paper we report on (two-component) LDV experiments in a fully developed turbulent pipe flow with a drag-reducing polymer (partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide) dissolved in water. The Reynolds number based on the mean velocity, the pipe diameter and the local viscosity at the wall is approximately 10000. We have used polymer solutions with three different concentrations which have been chosen such that maximum drag reduction occurs. The amount of drag reduction found is 60–70%. Our experimental results are compared with results obtained with water and with a very dilute solution which exhibits only a small amount of drag reduction. We have focused on the observation of turbulence statistics (mean velocities and turbulence intensities) and on the various contributions to the total shear stress. The latter consists of a turbulent, a solvent (viscous) and a polymeric part. The polymers are found to contribute significantly to the total stress. With respect to the mean velocity profile we find a thickening of the buffer layer and an increase in the slope of the logarithmic profile. With respect to the turbulence statistics we find for the streamwise velocity fluctuations an increase of the root mean square at low polymer concentration but a return to values comparable to those for water at higher concentrations. The root mean square of the normal velocity fluctuations shows a strong decrease. Also the Reynolds (turbulent) shear stress and the correlation coefficient between the stream wise and the normal components are drastically reduced over the entire pipe diameter. In all cases the Reynolds stress stays definitely non-zero at maximum drag reduction. The consequence of the drop of the Reynolds stress is a large polymer stress, which can be 60% of the total stress. The kinetic-energy balance of the mean flow shows a large transfer of energy directly to the polymers instead of the route by turbulence. The kinetic energy of the turbulence suggests a possibly negative polymeric dissipation of turbulent energy. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Drag reduction and heat transfer in surfactant solutions with excess counterion

We present the results of a study of turbulent drag reduction in a small circulating loop using surfactant solutions with excess counterion. In addition, these solutions were used in measurements of heat transfer, both in pipe flow and in an impinging jet. Both frictional drag and heat transfer were reduced in the pipe flow experiments. Measurements of heat transfer in the impinging jet revealed a dependence on the molar concentration ratio of the counterion. When the counterion was added at a molar concentration 30 times higher than that of the surfactant, the resulting surfactant solution did not reduce the rate of heat transfer in the impinging jet. By using this surfactant system in an impinging jet, we show both a reduction in pipe friction and normal heat transfer potential in a circulating heat exchange system. In order to investigate this difference in heat transfer between pipe flows and impinging jet flows, a comparison was made of the wall shear stress between these two flow regimes. The estimated wall shear stress was of the same order in both flows, and thus was not considered to be the primary cause of the difference in heat transfer. It is instead suggested that the micellar structure of the surfactant is influenced by a compressive deformation of the impinging flow in a manner that is different from the shear deformation observed in pipe flow.     

Characterization of micellar structure dynamics for a drag-reducing surfactant solution under shear: normal stress studies and flow geometry effects

Some surfactant solutions have been observed to exhibit a strong drag reduction behavior in turbulent flow. This effect is generally believed to result from the formation of large cylindrical micelles or micellar structures. To characterize and understand better these fluids, we have studied the transient rheological properties of an efficient drag-reducing aqueous solution: tris (2-hydroxyethyl) tallowalkyl ammonium acetate (TTAA) with added sodium salicylate (NaSal) as counter ion. For a 5/5 mM equimolar TTAA/NaSal solution, there is no measurable first normal stress difference (N ₁) immediately after the inception of shear, but N ₁ begins to increase after a well-defined induction time — presumably as shear-induced structures (SIS) are formed — and it finally reaches a fluctuating plateau region where its average value is two orders of magnitude larger than that of the shear stress. The SIS buildup times obtained by first normal stress measurements were approximately inversely proportional to the shear rate, which is consistent with a kinetic process during which individual micelles are incorporated through shear into large micellar structures. The SIS buildup after a strong preshear and the relaxation processes after flow cessation were also studied and quantified with first normal stress difference measurements. The SIS buildup times and final state were also found to be highly dependent on flow geometry. With an increase in gap between parallel plates, for example, the SIS buildup times decreased, whereas the plateau viscosity increased.     

Surfactant systems for drag reduction: Physico-chemical properties and rheological behaviour

The first part of the work presents an overview of the physical chemistry of surfactants which in aqueous solutions reduce the frictional loss in turbulent pipe flow. It is shown that these surfactants form rodlike micelles above a characteristic concentraionc _t. The experimental evidence for rodlike micelles are reviewed and the prerequisites that the surfactant system must fulfill in order to form rodlike micelles are given. It is demonstrated by electrical conductivity measurements that the critical concentration for the formation of spherical micelles shows little temperature dependence, whereasc _t increases very rapidly with temperature. The length of the rodlike micelles, as determined by electric birefringence, decreases with rising temperature and increases with rising surfactant concentration. The dynamic processes in these micellar systems at rest and the influence of additives such as electrolytes and short chain alcohols are discussed.In the second part, the rheological behaviour of these surfactant solutions under laminar and turbulent flow conditions are investigated. Viscosity measurements in laminar pipe and Couette flow show the build-up of a shear induced viscoelastic state, SIS, from normal Newtonian fluid flow. A complete alignment of the rodlike micelles in the flow direction in the SIS was verified by flow birefringence. In turbulent pipe flow, drag reduction occurs in these surfactant systems as soon as rodlike micelles are present in the solution. The extent and type of drag reduction, i.e. the shape of the friction factor versus Reynolds number curve, depends directly on the size, number and surface charge of the rodlike micelles. The friction factor curve of each surfactant investigated changes in the same characteristic way as a function of temperature. For each surfactant, independent of concentration, an upper absolute temperature limit,T _L, for drag reduction exists which is caused by the micellar dynamics.T _L is influenced by the hydrophobic chain length and the counter-ion of the surfactant system. A first attempt is made to explain the drag reduction of surfactants by combining the results of these rheological measurements with the physico-chemical properties of the micellar systems.     

Predicting Turbulent Spectra in Drag-reduced Flows

In the present work we describe how turbulent skin-friction drag reduction obtained through near-wall turbulence manipulation modifies the spectral content of turbulent fluctuations and Reynolds shear stress with focus on the largest scales. Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) of turbulent channels up to Re _τ = 1000 are performed in which drag reduction is achieved either via artificially removing wall-normal turbulent fluctuations in the vicinity of the wall or via streamwise-travelling waves of spanwise wall velocity. This near-wall turbulence manipulation is shown to modify turbulent spectra in a broad range of scales throughout the whole channel. Above the buffer layer, the observed changes can be predicted, exploiting the vertical shift of the logarithmic portion of the mean streamwise velocity profile, which is a classic performance measure for wall roughness or drag-reducing riblets. A simple model is developed for predicting the large-scale contribution to turbulent fluctuation and Reynolds shear stress spectra in drag-reduced turbulent channels in which a flow control acts at the wall. Any drag-reducing control that successfully interacts with large scales should deviate from the predictions of the present model, making it a useful benchmark for assessing the capability of a control to affect large scales directly.     

Rheology and flow studies of drag-reducing gravel packing fluids

Viscoelastic additives are widely used as drag reducers in the oil and gas industry, and both polymeric additives and micellar surfactants are commonly used in well gravel packing applications. While the behaviour of polymeric additives such as the polysaccharide xanthan gum is well characterized in the literature, much less is known about how the rheology of the viscoelastic surfactants affects drag reduction, despite widespread use. In this study, we performed a number of rheological tests as well as flow loop experiments on solutions of a zwitterionic surfactant to understand the structural characteristics of the fluids in order to make better process predictions. Unlike xanthan, which displays typical viscoelastic liquid characteristics, zwitterionic surfactant-based fluids display elastic gel-like behaviour. The gel-like behaviour suggests long and relatively unbreakable chain lengths of the wormlike micelles in the viscoelastic surfactant solution at room temperature leading to gelation by entanglement. Also, a shear-thickening behaviour of viscoelastic surfactant samples at higher shear rates is observed, possibly as a result of shear-induced structures. Finally, we present a novel representation scheme to depict the flow loop results for drag in the laminar and turbulent regime, and relate this data to the rheological characterization.     

Time-dependent drag reduction and ageing in aqueous solutions of a cationic surfactant

The turbulent pipe flow of a highly dilute aqueous cationic surfactant solution is investigated by means of a pulsed ultrasound Doppler method with special emphasis on the wall boundary layer. The velocity profiles are recorded for several Reynolds numbers at varying ages of the solution. The wall shear stress velocities u _τ used for the normalization of the velocity profiles are determined by fitting the measured profiles to the universal linear velocity profile in the viscous sublayer. The theoretical pressure loss is then calculated from the numerical values of u _τ and compared to the experimental values. Two different scaling methods are discussed for the velocity fluctuations concerning the correlation of the root-mean square values with the effect and the amount of drag reduction. It is shown that outer scaling with the mean velocity is appropriate for the detection of drag reduction in surfactant solutions, rather than inner scaling with the wall shear stress velocity, which is common practice in investigations of 'usual' turbulent flows.     

暖季强降雨对多年冻土南界斜坡路基稳定性影响分析

为阐明表面活性剂水溶液的减阻作用,使用LDV对零压梯度的二维湍流平板边界层中的CTAB 表面活性剂水溶液的湍流特性进行了实验研究. 结果表明：与牛顿流体相比,CTAB水溶液边 界层的粘性底层增厚;主流时均速度分布有被层流化的趋势,对数分布域上移;主流方向速 度湍动强度峰值减小,且远离壁面,在靠近边界层中部,出现第2峰值;垂直于主流方向的 速度湍动强度受到了大幅度抑制,雷诺应力沿着边界层厚度方向几乎为零. 结果说明CTAB 水溶液具有减弱湍流湍动各个成分相关度的作用,从而能够使雷诺应力降低、湍流能量生成 项减小最终降低流体的输送动力.