Flow of Newtonian and Non-Newtonian Fluids Through Packed Beds: An Experimental Study

The phenomena of flow reduction and flow enhancement was observed in case of viscoelastic and viscoinelastic fluids flowing through packed beds, respectively. In this study, the pressure drop-flow rate behaviors for the flow of Newtonian (water), non-Newtonian viscoinelastic (Carboxy methyl cellulose solution in water, CMC) and viscoelastic (Polyacrylamide solution in water, PAA) fluids have been experimentally studied and pressure drop behavior compared with existing models for viscoinelastic and viscoelastic fluids. Based on the observed data, an appropriate empirical correlation for pressure drop prediction in case of non-Newtonian fluid flowing through packed bed has been proposed. The correlation predicts the data well to within a reasonable accuracy.     

A correlation for yield stress fluid flow through packed beds

Relatively few correlations are available for non-Newtonian fluid flows through packed beds, even though such fluids are frequently used in industry. In this paper, a correlation is presented for yield stress fluid flow through packed beds. The correlation is developed by introducing the yield stress model in place of the Newtonian model used in deriving Erguns equation. The resulting model has three parameters that are functions of the geometry and roughness of the particle surfaces. Two of the parameters can be deduced in the limit as the yield stress becomes negligible and the model reduces to Erguns equation for Newtonian fluids. The third model parameter is determined from experimental data. The correlation relates a defined friction factor to the dimensionless Reynolds and Hedstrom numbers and can be used to predict pressure drop for flow of a yield stress fluid through a packed bed of spherical particles. Conditions for flow or no-flow are also determined in the correlation. Comparison of model calculations, between a Newtonian and a yield stress fluid for flow penetration into a packed bed of spheres, shows the yield stress fluid initially performs similar to the Newtonian fluid, at large Reynolds numbers. At lower Reynolds numbers the yield stress effect becomes important and the flow rate significantly decreases when compared to the Newtonian fluid.     

Experimental Study on the Effective Particle Diameter of a Packed Bed with Non-Spherical Particles

An experimental study is conducted to determine the characteristics of frictional pressure drops of fluid flow in porous beds packed with non-spherical particles. The objective is to examine the applicability of the Ergun equation to flow resistance assessment for packed beds with non-spherical particles. The experiments are carried out on the POMECOFL facility at KTH. Hollow spheres and cylinders are used to pack the beds. Either water or air is chosen as the working fluid. The experimental data show that the Ergun equation is applicable to all the test beds if the effective particle diameter used in the equation is chosen as the equivalent diameter of the particles, which is the product of Sauter mean diameter and shape factor of the particles in each bed.     

Measuring static yield stress of electrorheological fluids using the slotted plate device

An electrorheological (ER) response is defined as the dramatic change in rheological properties of a suspension of small particles due to the application of a large electric field transverse to the direction of flow. ER fluids are typically composed of nonconducting or semiconducting particles dispersed in a nonconducting continuous phase. A sufficiently large electric field will cause ER fluids to solidify, giving rising to a yield stress. Many applications in torque and stress transfer devices were proposed employing the reversible yielding behavior of ER fluids. Successful applications depend on a large yield stress of ER fluids and therefore accurate measurements of the yield stress of ER fluids are required. Reported experimental yield stresses of ER fluids have been dynamic yield stresses obtained by extrapolating the shear stress–shear rate data to zero-shear rate. It would be very helpful to the understanding of ER behaviors and the applications of ER fluids to be able to measure the static yield stress of ER fluids accurately. The slotted plate technique has been shown to be a successful method to determine the static yield stress of suspensions. The values obtained via the slotted plate method are static yield stress as the platform is designed for extremely low-speed motion. In this study, we modified the slotted plate device for the application of large electric fields and measured the static yield stress of TiO₂ ER fluids under various electric fields. The measured static yield stress values are also compared with the static yield stress values from a commercial rheometer.     

A Resistance Model for Newtonian and Power-Law Non-Newtonian Fluid Transport in Porous Media

A theoretical model based on the force balance between pressure, viscous force, and inertia force is proposed to predict the flow resistance of Newtonian and power-law non-Newtonian fluids through porous packed beds. The present model takes inertia effect into consideration, and the flow regime can be extended from Darcy flow to non-Darcy flow. It is demonstrated that the present model can predict most available experimental data well. The present results are also compared to the Ergun equation and other drag correlations.     

Study of Dispersion in Porous Media by Pulsed Field Gradient NMR: Influence of the Fluid Rheology

Pulsed field gradient nuclear magnetic resonance (PFG-NMR) is used to measure the molecular displacements for the flow of a fluid through a capillary tube and a packed bed made of monodisperse PMMA beads. The molecules average displacement is studied using both the formalism of propagators and the cumulant method. In the Poiseuille case, the dispersion coefficients determined by the cumulant method compare satisfactorily with the theoretical values obtained. The technique is then extended to study the flow through a porous medium. We thus analyze Newtonian (water) and non-Newtonian (Xanthan) flows and put a particular emphasis on comparing the dispersion mechanisms between Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids.     

体积分数对基于沸石和硅油的悬浮液的电流变性能的影响

用 HAAKE RV2 0型流变仪 ,在不同外加电场强度和不同颗粒体积分数下测试了基于沸石和硅油的电流变液的剪切应力变化 .结果表明 :随着外加电场强度升高 ,电流变液的零电场粘度急剧增加 ,电流变液的剪切屈服应力增加 ;随着电流变液中沸石颗粒体积分数升高 ,电流变液的剪切屈服强度急剧上升 .这种变化可以用颗粒间作用力与颗粒间距的关系、单位面积的颗粒链数目变化以及多体作用对电流变液性能的影响来解释     

电流变液滑动轴承的数值研究

基于油膜内屈服面位置可能出现的4种情况，Tichy提出了用于Bingham流体滑动轴承特性及其屈服面位置的计算方法，在将该计算方法推广到电流变液滑动轴承的计算时，发现随着外加电场强度的变形，出现了轴承风屈服面位置不变的非物理结果，而且Tichy的方法只能适用于无限宽滑动轴承，为了对有限宽度的电流变液滑动轴承进行数值研究，采用了类Bingham模型，通过差分离散和超松驰迭代的方法对雷诺方程进行求解，计算结果表明：电流变流滑动轴承内的压力分布可以通过外加电场强度来控制，轴承间隙内屈服面位置随电场强度变化而产生的移动是使轴承润滑性能得以改变的重要力学机制；在轴承以高剪切速率运转时，由于电流变液表观黏度随电场强度的变化已经很小，该机制在轴承的设计中尤为重要。     

On constitutive equations for electrorheological materials

Constitutive equations for electrorheological (ER) fluids have been based on experimental results for steady shearing flows and constant electric fields. The fluids have been modeled as being rigid until a yield stress is reached. Additional stress is then proportional to the shear rate. Recent experimental results indicate that ER materials have a regime of solid-like response when deformed from a rest state. They behave in a viscoelastic-like manner under sinusoidal shearing and exhibit time-dependent response under sudden changes in shear rate or electric field. In this work, a constitutive theory for ER materials is presented which accounts for these recent experimental observations. The stress is given by a functional of the deformation gradient history and the electric field vector. Using the methods of continuum mechanics, a general three-dimensional constitutive equation is obtained. A sample constitutive equation is introduced which is then used to determine the response of an ER material for different shear histories. The calculated shear response is shown to be qualitatively similar to that observed experimentally.     

Development and Validation of a Numerical Model of Flow Through Embankment Dams – Comparisons with Experimental Data and Analytical Solutions

The development and validation of a numerical simulation model of the flow through embankment dams is described. The paper focuses on basic verification studies, that is, comparisons with analytical solutions and data from laboratory experiments. Two experimental studies, one dealing with the flow in a Hele–Shaw cell and the other with the flow through a bed of packed glass beads, are also described. Comparisons are carried out with respect to the phreatic surfaces, pressure profiles, seepage levels and discharges. It is concluded that the agreement between experimental, analytical and numerical results is generally satisfactory.     

Numerical Simulation of Yield Stress Fluid Flow in Capillary Bundles: Influence of the Form and the Axial Variation in the Cross Section

In this paper, we investigate possible improvements that can be made to the bundle of capillaries model in order to better represent the flow of yield stress fluids through porous media. This was examined by performing extensive and progressive numerical simulations and by introducing the non-circularity of channels’ cross section and/or its variability along the channels’ axis. It is shown that if only the non-circularity of channels’ cross section is taken into account, a moderate influence is observed on both critical pressure gradient for the flow onset and the flow rate/pressure gradient \({Q}({\nabla P})\) relationship. However, the axial variation in capillaries’ cross section has proved to be more impacting the computed flow rate/pressure gradient data. We show hence that when available pore throat and pore body size distributions are used to construct the bundle of axially varying capillaries, the obtained \({Q}({\nabla P})\) data do fit well experimental results corresponding to the flow of a Bingham-like fluid through a bed of randomly packed mono-sized spheres.     

Dynamic responses of electrorheological fluid in steady pressure flow

The dynamic responses of the electrorheological fluid in steady pressure flow to stepwise electric fields are investigated experimentally. First of all, the transient responses of the ER fluid under various electric field strengths and flow velocities are obtained from the pressure behaviors in the flow channel with two parallel-plate electrodes. The response times are exponentially decreased with the increase of the flow velocity and the decrease of the electric field strength. Next, the relationship between the dynamic pressure behaviors of the ER fluid and the cluster structure formation processes of the ER particles is investigated using the flow visualization technique. Through the comparison study, it is verified that the dynamic responses of the ER fluid in the flow mode are mainly caused by the cluster densification process in the competition of the electric field-induced particle attraction and the hydrodynamic force, unlike those in the shear mode determined by the particle aggregation process.     

Exact solution for compressive flow of viscoplastic fluids under perfect slip wall boundary conditions

Based on the perfect slip condition between rigid walls and fluids, the compressive flow of Herschel-Bulkley fluids and biviscous fluids was studied. The explicit expressions of stresses and fluid velocity were given. To move the rigid walls for a Herschel-Bulkley fluid with the yield stress (τ₀), the mean pressure applied onto the rigid wall should be larger than 2τ₀/. No yield surface exists in the interior of the fluids when flow occurs. For a biviscous fluid, a critical load was given. The fluid behaves like the Bingham fluid when the external applied load onto the wall is larger than the critical load, otherwise the fluid is Newtonian. Received: 10 June 1997 Accepted: 22 September 1997     

Electrorheologial properties of hematite/silicone oil suspensions under DC fields

Electrorheological (ER) fluids composed of α-Fe₂O₃ (hematite) particles suspended in silicone oil are studied in this work. The rheological response has been characterized as a function of field strength, shear rate and volume fraction. Rheological tests under DC electric fields elucidated the influence of the electric field strength, E, and volume fraction, ϕ, on the field-dependent yield stress, τ_y. It was found that this quantity scales with E and ϕ with a linear and parabolic dependence, respectively. The viscosities of electrified suspensions were found to increase by several orders of magnitude as compared to the unelectrified suspension at low shear rates, although at high-shear rates hydrodynamic effects become dominant and no effects of the electric field on the viscosity are observed. The work is completed with the analysis of microscopic observations of the structure acquired by the ER fluid upon application of a constant electric field. Electrohydrodynamic convection is found to be the origin of the ER response rather than the commonly admitted particle fibrillation. This fact can provide an explanation to the relationship between yield stress and electric field strength as well as the pattern of periodic structures observed in the measurement geometries.     

Slumping Flows in Narrow Eccentric Annuli: Design of Chemical Packers and Cementing of Subsurface Gas Pipelines

In well construction, there are an increasing number of scenarios in which plugs are being set in annular geometries, whether as cement plugs or simply in the form of chemical packers. The generic reason for setting of such plugs is to hydraulically isolate different regions of a wellbore (or hole). An interesting practical problem in such situations is to predict the rheological properties that are necessary to prevent the annular plug fluid from flowing under the action of buoyancy, or indeed to predict how far the plug material may flow for given rheological properties. The answers to these questions provide valuable information for operational design. Mathematically, these flows are modeled using a Hele-Shaw style approximation of the narrow annulus. Since fluids used in the wellbore are non-Newtonian, typically shear-thinning and with a yield stress, the relationship between the local modified pressure gradient and the gap-averaged velocity field is nonlinear. If the yield stress of the fluids is sufficiently large, relative to the applied pressure over the gap, there is no flow. In the porous media context, there is direct analogy with problems of nonlinear seepage and in particular with non-Darcy flows with limiting pressure gradient. The study of such flows was both pioneered and developed by V.M. Entov, to whose memory this paper is dedicated.     

电流变液在两平行电极板间流动行为的实验研究

通过实验的方法研究了电流变液流经两间距为１．１ｍｍ的平行电极板的流动行为，实验所观测到的由于电流变液在电场作用下非均匀固化所引起的固相颗粒淤积与饱和过程、河道分岔和失稳等现象，对现有的有关电流变阀均匀流动模型提出了质疑，这为进一步深入理解电流变液的力学行为，建立新的理论模型提供了实验依据     

A THEORETICAL MODELLING OF THE CHAIN STRUCTURE FORMATION IN ELECTRORHEOLOGICAL FLUIDS

IntroductionAnelectrorheological (ER)fluidconsistsofasuspensionoffineparticlesinaliquidoflowdielectricconstantandlowviscosity .Itsapparentviscosityincreasesdramaticallyinthepresenceofanappliedelectricfield .Iftheelectricfieldexceedsacriticalvalue,theERfluidturnsintoasolidwhoseyieldstressincreasesasthefieldisfurtherstrengthened .Thisphenomenoniscompletelyreversible .Uponelectricfieldcutoff,thesystemalmostimmediatelyresumesitsoriginalliquidstate .Thetimescaleforthetransitionisoftheorderofmill…     

Modelling the flow of power law fluids in a packed bed using a volume-averaged equation of motion

The development of a theoretical model for the prediction of velocity and pressure drop for the flow of a viscous power law fluid through a bed packed with uniform spherical particles is presented. The model is developed by volume averaging the equation of motion. A porous microstructure model based on a cell model is used. Numerical solution of the resulting equation is effected using a penalty Galerkin finite element method. Experimental pressure drop values for dilute solutions of carboxymethylcellulose flowing in narrow tubes packed with uniformly sized spherical particles are compared to theoretical predictions over a range of operating conditions. Overall agreement between experimental and theoretical values is within 15%. The extra pressure drop due to the presence of the wall is incorporated directly into the model through the application of the no-slip boundary condition at the container wall. The extra pressure drop reaches a maximum of about 10% of the bed pressure drop without wall effect. The wall effect increases as the ratio of tube diameter to particle diameter decreases, as the Reynolds number decreases and as the power law index increases.     

A numerical model for thermal systems with helically-coiled tubes and its experimental verification

 A conjugate numerical model proposed by Nakayama et al. for the steady problem of cooling a fluid flowing through a coiled tube, has been successfully extended to investigate two distinctive thermal problems, namely, the transient cooling processes associated with a beer dispenser, and the transient processes of heat storage and recovery associated with a packed bed saturated with a molten salt. An axisymmetric numerical procedure is adopted for determining the velocity and temperature fields within the chilled water bath of the beer dispenser. A simplified one-dimensional heat transfer model is introduced for coupling the tube flow with the recirculating flow in the bath. A similar axisymmetric finite difference procedure is applied for the heat transfer analysis of the packed bed saturated with a molten salt. For the heat recovery process, a one-dimensional heat balance equation for the two-phase flow with a helically-coiled tube is introduced to update the wall surface temperatures, which are needed to calculate the temperature field in the saturated packed bed. The numerical results for both thermal systems associated with coiled tubes agree very well with the corresponding velocity and temperature data obtained from the experiments. Received on 28 August 2000 / Published online: 29 November 2001